Victims of Hillsborough stadium disaster were unlawfully killed

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People hold football scarves during a memorial service at Anfield in Liverpool, north west Engand on April 15, 2016, on the 27th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster. 96 Liverpool supporters died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough football ground in Sheffield, northern England. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:28pm, 26 Apr 2016Updated: 6:28pm, 26 Apr 2016

The 96 soccer fans who died in Britain’s worst-ever sporting disaster, the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium crush, were unlawfully killed, with police failures to blame, a jury hearing inquests into the death concluded on Tuesday.

The victims, many young, died in an overcrowded, fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, at an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on a warm, sunny afternoon on April 15, 1989.

The wreath in honour of the Hillsborough Disaster victims that Bournemouth's English defender Tommy Elphick and Liverpool's Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva layed ahead of the English Premier League football match between Bournemouth and Liverpool, is seen at half-time at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, southern England on April 17, 2016. 96 Liverpool supporters died at the April 15, 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough football ground in Sheffield, northern England. Photo: AFP

New inquests were ordered in December 2012 when London’s High Court quashed accidental death verdicts from 21 years earlier after an independent inquiry found new evidence and absolved the fans of any responsibility.

The jury overseeing the new inquests ruled that the fans had been unlawfully killed and that police commanders had made mistakes in the build-up to the match and on the day itself, the BBC reported.