A minute's silence to remember Hillsborough

THE 10th anniversary of the Hillsborough football disaster will be marked this week by a one-minute silence and a memorial service attended by up to 10,000 people, writes Louise Jury.

The centre of Liverpool is expected to come to a standstill on Thursday as the city remembers the 96 fans who died at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium.

Since Britain's worst sporting tragedy, on 15 April 1989, a service for up to 5,000 people has been held each year. A larger turnout is expected at Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium this week.

The club is prepared for as many as 14,000 people on the Kop, the home end of the stadium. At 3.06pm, the moment when the referee, Ray Lewis, took the decision to stop the game against Nottingham Forest, the minute's silence will start. It will be marked by a whistle blown by Mr Lewis.

Businesses, buses, taxis, the Merseyside police and the city council have agreed to mark the silence, and delegations from Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest clubs will attend.

Trevor Hicks, chairman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, who lost his daughters, Sarah, 19, and Victoria, 15, said: "They say time heals. It doesn't necessarily. You get much better at handling it, but your life is irreversibly changed."

The families have camp-aigned through the years for more information and are pursuing private prosecutions against David Duckenfield and Bernard Murray, the men in charge of police operations.

"We still believe the whole truth of Hillsborough has not been placed in the public domain," Mr Hicks said. "We will continue to campaign for soccer safety and for an improved lot for supporters."

The consequences of the disaster are examined in a BBC1 Everyman special tonight on the legacy of Hillsborough.