A mother who has desperately fought a 20-year battle for a new inquiry into her son’s death at Hillsborough has passed the required 100,000 petition signatures for action to be taken.
Anne Williams’ e-petition reached 113,656 signatures just in time for the deadline on 19th January, 2012, after a late surge of support via social networking sites, including Twitter.
Anne believes her son Kevin, who was only 15 years old when he tragically died at the stadium disaster in 1989, was given an incorrect cause of death.
Explaining her reasons behind her fight for justice, Anne wrote on the e-petition webpage: “Kevin’s inquests were riddled with corruption, suppressing of vital evidence and perverting the course of justice.
“Kevin did not die from Traumatic Asphyxia or in an accident. I will not pick up his death certificate until we get the course of death put right and the accidental death verdict struck down.
“Kevin does not relate to the 3.15pm cut-off point. I want a new inquest where all the witnesses will be called to give evidence so the jury will know exactly what happened to Kevin at Hillsborough.”
After the petition had closed and the minimum number had been reached, Anne said in an interview: “I feel elated. I was in tears over the support that the e-petition got. I want the Attorney General to look at the evidence again and send Kevin’s case back to the divisional court, recommending a new inquest into the death of my son.”
Many high-profile figures on Twitter showed their support for the cause, actively tweeting and encouraging others to also sign.
Among them was Kelly Cates, daughter of Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish. She persistently appealed to her 25,000 followers in the UK and even spread as far as America, Asia and Australia.
Other well-known figures across Merseyside who asked for support included Dalglish himself, footballer Joey Barton, Coleen Rooney and football journalist for The Times, Tony Barrett.