Letter: Fans unjustly blamed for Hillsborough

Sir: On a sunny spring morning in 1989, my husband set out to attend a football match. That night, someone completely different came home and our lives had been irrevocably changed.

The enormity of the tragic deaths of men, women and children at Hillsborough has rightly overshadowed the multitude of other personal tragedies which arose out of that day. Thousands of people present were devastated by the trauma they experienced and witnessed. Many carry the guilt, not of having caused what happened, but of having survived. This, regardless of the fact that had it not been for the prompt and selfless action of fans both inside and outside the pens, many more would have died.

Michael Roberts (letter, 28 June) need not concern himself about the police "taking representation" from these people. West Midlands Police did that last time. The fans were exonerated by the Taylor inquiry report. The uninformed interpretations of what happened that day, begun by West Yorkshire Police and The Sun newspaper and perpetuated by such as Mr Roberts, continue to cause pain to those already suffering. A new inquiry and reopened inquests on those who died will finally nail the myth that football fans were culpable.

PAT AYERS

Liverpool