• Liverpool captain makes £96,000 donation
•’This is a great gesture and very welcome indeed’

The Hillsborough Family Support Group has welcomed the £96,000 donation made by the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard ahead of Tuesday night’s Merseyside derby against Everton.

Margaret Aspinall, chair of the HFSG, whose 18-year old-son James was one of the 96 people killed at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough football ground in April 1989, said: “This is a great gesture, and very welcome indeed. Steven Gerrard has been very supportive of the families all these years and we are grateful. I always stress: nobody has to give us anything, and the support we have had, from well known people such as him, and from ordinary people, has been fantastic. We would not be where we are today without it.”

Gerrard’s cousin Jon-Paul Gilhooley, who was 10 at the time, was the youngest of those who died in the crush on the Leppings Lane terrace at Hillsborough. Gerrard himself was eight at the time. The HFSG, of which the Gilhooley family are members, and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, have fought relentlessly against the legal processes after the disaster which saw nobody prosecuted or held legally accountable and an inquest verdict of accidental death.

The verdict was finally quashed in December 2012, and a new inquest is due to start in Warrington on March 31. A new criminal investigation is ongoing into how the disaster was caused, and an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into possible police misconduct including perjury and perverting the course of justice afterwards.

The families’ legal costs and expenses are being paid by the Home Office this time; Aspinall said Gerrard’s and other donations help pay office and travel costs, and a legal fund should it be needed.

Gerrard said given “my own family’s connection to Hillsborough,” he had wanted to make a donation for a while, and chose the eve of the derby to recognise the solidarity shown to the Hillsborough cause by Everton supporters:

“I think the timing is right to send another message out about how we want justice,” Gerrard said “I and every other Liverpool fan can only thank Evertonians for their support.”

Aspinall too said the families were grateful for the backing of Everton which staged a landmark demonstration of togetherness at the Goodison Park derby in September 2012 following the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report.

“The solidarity of both Liverpool football clubs, and Merseyside people, has been tremendous,” she said.

• Steven Gerrard
• Hillsborough disaster
• Liverpool

David Conn

theguardian.com