Former editor of The Sun Kelvin MacKenzie: I am sorry over Hillsborough
THE editor of the Sun at the time of Hillsborough yesterday apologised for his paper’s coverage.
Kelvin MacKenzie said: “Twenty-three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium.
“I had absolutely no reason to believe these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster.
“As the Prime Minister has made clear these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters thereby shifting the blame for the tragedy from themselves.
“It has taken more than two decades, 400,00 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have far more accurate had I written the headline The Lies rather than The Truth.
“I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong.”
I had absolutely no reason to believe these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster
Trevor Hicks rejected his apology as “too little, too late”.
To this day, many readers on Merseyside refuse to buy The Sun.