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Demand comes as MPs consider e-petition calling for ‘full government disclosure’ over 1989 football ground disaster

The chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group has called on the Sun to reveal the identities of its sources for a notorious story which in effect blamed Liverpool fans for causing the 1989 disaster, in which 96 of the club’s supporters died.

Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died at the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough stadium, said it was vital, as part of the official disclosure of all public documents relating to the disaster which MPs will debate in parliament on Monday evening, that the Sun should say exactly who was behind its briefing.

Headlined “THE TRUTH” and run on 19 April 1989, four days after the disaster, the newspaper’s story alleged that the disaster followed “mass drunkenness” among Liverpool supporters, and that some fans had urinated on police and on victims, and picked victims’ pockets as their bodies lay on the pitch. The Sun said the allegations had come from unnamed South Yorkshire police officers.

Aspinall said the report was deeply traumatic for families struggling with shock and grief, and “set the injustice in train” as the police prepared their case for Lord Justice Taylor’s official inquiry and the inquest. The latter blamed the supporters for causing the disaster.

As a result of the report, the Sun was subject to a boycott on Merseyside which has substantially lasted until today, despite attempts over the years by the paper to apologise.

In Taylor’s report into the disaster in August 1989, he described the Sun’s stories as “grave and emotive calumnies” and wholly discredited them, saying: “Not a single witness was called before the inquiry to support any of those allegations.”

The then South Yorkshire police chief constable, Peter Wright, dissociated himself from the allegations, but Aspinall said the families had always felt it set public opinion and officialdom into believing that version of events.

“That story, that our children were drunken yobs, came as we were grieving for their loss, and we had to defend their good names,” she said. “It set people’s minds, which you can still see even now, that the disaster was caused by the fans, not by the police losing control. That set the injustice in train, the real truth never came out at the inquest, and nobody in authority has ever been held to account.

“If we are now to discover the real truth, let the Sun tell us who gave them those lies which caused so much damage.

“If the Sun wants to make amends, they should reveal who it was, not allow their sources to hide behind anonymous briefings 22 years later, and help the families to understand what happened.”

MPs will debate the current public document disclosure process in the Commons after more than 100,000 people signed an e-petition calling for “full government disclosure and publication of all documents” following a freedom of information request by the BBC.

The Hillsborough families have campaigned particularly to be told about the briefings South Yorkshire police gave to the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, when she visited Hillsborough the day after the disaster.

Her then press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham, said later that he “learned on the day” that the disaster was caused by a “tanked-up mob” of Liverpool supporters.

The home secretary, Theresa May, is expected to restate the government’s position, which is a “commitment to full transparency about the Hillsborough disaster through full public disclosure”.

That will, the government has confirmed, include cabinet papers from the time, but it is not yet clear if those discussions will detail the briefings Thatcher received from South Yorkshire police.

An independent panel of experts chaired by James Jones, the bishop of Liverpool, has been set up to examine the huge archive, and write a report setting out how the new material adds to public understanding of the disaster. The intention is to produce “as near to the full story as possible,” Jones has said.

May is likely to say all the papers, including those of Thatcher’s cabinet at the time, should be disclosed first to the panel, who will share them with the victims’ families before they are released for publication.

“The government is happy for all the papers, including cabinet papers, to be released as soon as the panel so decides, in consultation with the families,” a government spokesman said.

Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow health spokesman, who, with another Merseyside Labour MP, Maria Eagle, initiated the public disclosure process on the 20th anniversary of the disaster two years ago, is expected to support that view.

He said he was already looking beyond the disclosure of documents to an ultimate process of “truth and reconciliation”.

“After Hillsborough, the lie was set early on that Liverpool supporters had forced open an exit gate and rushed through it, when in fact the police had ordered the gate to be opened,” Burnham said.

“What the families of innocent victims were then put through belongs to an era from which we have moved on, when the authorities were able to abuse ordinary people in a sickening way.

“When the full disclosure has happened and the report is written, I believe there should be an appropriate national response and process of reconciliation.

“The prime minister, David Cameron, gave a very dignified response to the Saville report into Bloody Sunday, and offered an unqualified apology for what took place. I believe the Hillsborough families will deserve a response on that scale.”

In his 1989 report, Taylor concluded that South Yorkshire police’s mismanagement of the crowd was “the immediate cause” of the disaster, together with safety failures by Sheffield Wednesday FC, the owner of Hillsborough, and Sheffield city council, which failed in its safety certifying role.

News International did not respond to questions as to whether the Sun would be prepared to reveal the identity of its sources for the story.

Hillsborough disasterLiverpoolHouse of CommonsFreedom of informationSheffieldThe SunNational newspapersDavid Connguardian.co.uk

Government obliged to respond after more than 110,000 people call for immediate release of Cabinet Office documents

An e-petition calling for the immediate release of Cabinet Office documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster has gained more than 110,000 signatures, forcing the government to consider a parliamentary debate.

The campaign, urging the government to drop an appeal against a ruling by the information commissioner to release the documents to the BBC, has been supported through Twitter by celebrities and footballers, including comedian Simon Pegg and Manchester United striker Michael Owen. The government is expected to continue with its appeal against the commissioner’s decision, believing that an independent panel set up by the previous government to examine the full circumstances surrounding the disaster in which 96 people died should deliver its report before the documents are made public.

Now that the e-petition has reached more than 100,000 signatures, the government is obliged to respond.

It will also forward the e-petition to the backbench business committee in order to determine its suitability for debate when parliament returns in September. “The government’s view is that it is in the public interest for the process that is under way through the Hillsborough Independent Panel be allowed to take its courseThe terms of reference for that process includes the intention to disclose information to the Hillsborough families first,” said a Cabinet Office spokesman.

Prof Phil Scraton, lead investigator on the Hillsborough panel, chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, said it was important that the Cabinet Office documents were placed in context before the full archive was publicly released.

The panel is due to publish its findings next spring.

Scraton said: “Our terms of reference are absolutely clear: full disclosure is what we’re about.

“The important aspect of full disclosure is that the families are the first to receive material from the panel and that it then goes more broadly into the public domain.”

“We will write a full report that demonstrates how that which we have analysed and researched adds to public understanding of Hillsborough – in its context, its circumstances and its aftermath.”

Families of victims and survivors of the tragedy hope the report will answer questions about the role of emergency services and the government in the runup to the disaster and its aftermath. The inquest into the deaths set an arbitrary cut off time of 3.15pm, so the response of the emergency services has never been examined in full.

Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, backed the panel’s position but also urged the government to release an unequivocal statement promising full disclosure of the potentially embarrassing documents.

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign said the documents – originally the subject of a 2009 freedom of information request – should be released immediately.

“It’s in the public interest, as the commissioner had ruled. We’re uncomfortable with a panel that is committed to full disclosure challenging a FOI Act ruling that is said to be in the public interest,” said spokeswoman Sheila Coleman.

Hillsborough disasterLiverpoolFreedom of informationOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk

• Roy Hodgson hopes Tom Hicks and George Gillett can sell up
• New manager admits change of owner could affect his position

Roy Hodgson has said it is imperative that Liverpool’s co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, sell the club this summer even though a takeover could affect his own position at Anfield.

The new Liverpool manager spoke to the Americans in a brief conference call on Wednesday night and, at his official unveiling the following day, promised to avoid the ownership issues that have blighted the club and the reign of his predecessor, Rafael Benítez, in recent years. Nevertheless, at a time when the Liverpool futures of Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano are all uncertain, and with only limited funds available for squad rebuilding, Hodgson believes the prospects of recovery are inextricably linked to the timing of Hicks’s and Gillett’s departure.

Asked if he wanted the club to change hands at the earliest opportunity, the 62-year-old said: “Absolutely. That is what all the fans want. They want new ownership, maybe in the way Manchester City found new ownership. I don’t know whether that would be a possibility but I can understand the fans wanting that. The fans want the best for Liverpool Football Club. They want the best players and the best quality football, and they know the only way to get that is to have the quality of players on the pitch and they cost money.”

Hodgson admitted his arrival at Anfield was due, in part, to Liverpool’s £350m debt and the associated problems that have plagued the club since Hicks and Gillett arrived in February 2007. He added: “It’s very unusual to get the job at the club you want to be at if something is not there niggling in the background. Obviously the thing in the background here is the financial situation.

“The financial situation doesn’t bother me. This club will always find a buyer and there’s always going to be people who want to be the owner of Liverpool Football Club. It’s just a question of when it can be sold and whether the new owners, when they come in, are prepared to back the club as we all think it should be backed.”

Liverpool’s chairman, Martin Broughton, has confirmed there have been no offers for the club since Hicks and Gillett announced it was officially for sale in April, although he hopes to receive a first round of bids by mid-July and complete the sale before the end of August. A takeover would raise the prospect of the new owners wanting to appoint their own manager, but Hodgson is confident his work will dissuade such a move.

The Liverpool manager, who confirmed he is contractually protected “to some extent” if new owners decided they wanted a change, said: “You can’t ever get stone guarantees with these things. I believe that I was selected fommm,,,,r the right reasons and that if there are new owners they would go along with that as well. If they didn’t, and the new owners wanted a complete change, then I would have to accept that. It wouldn’t make a major dent in my career but it would be very sad because I want to work here.”

Hicks and Gillett remain the target of derision among Liverpool supporters and an “Independence Day Rally” will be held in the city tomorrow, organised by the Spirit of Shankly supporters group. The rally, at St George’s Hall from noon, features speeches from John Aldridge and the newly elected MP for Walton, Steve Rotheram, the comedian John Bishop plus several musicians, and the SOS will launch its proposal for supporters to buy into the club.

A spokesperson for SOS said: “This is our chance to send out a message that we want true independence, not only from Tom and George, but others who work the same way as they do. We no longer want leveraged buyout merchants with their eyes on the accounts, not the football pitch.”

LiverpoolRoy HodgsonBusinessAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk