Topman has withdrawn from sale a long-sleeved T-shirt that provoked widespread disgust by appearing to mock the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.



The £20 red shirt features a large number 96 and the slogan “What goes around comes back around” on the back, the word “karma” on one sleeve and a red rose on the front and back.

Topman issued a hasty apology and the item is no longer available on its website after Hillsborough relatives and survivors said it insulted the memory of the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the 1989 stadium disaster.

The retailer said the shirt design referenced the title of a 1996 remix of a Bob Marley song.

It said: “Topman apologises unreservedly for any offence caused by this T-shirt. The design was inspired by a Bob Marley track with the number referring to the year of re-release. The garment has been removed from sale online and in stores.”

It refused to state how many of the shirts had been sold.

The chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son, James, died in the disaster, said she was shocked that Topman had allowed the item to go on sale. “We had no explanation or apology,” she said.

“If they’ve made a mistake they should apologise and say they didn’t realise the implications. Anything with 96 on it and a rose running through it and karma on the sleeve and the wording on it, people will think is a dig at Hillsborough. Everybody should be aware of Hillsborough and the fact that 96 people died. And understand that the rose means a lot to the families. We place 96 roses at the memorial every year.”

Louise Brookes, whose brother Andrew was killed in the disaster, refused to accept Topman’s claim that any references on the T-shirt to Hillsborough were inadvertent.

“I think there are too many coincidences,” she told BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. It is in red – why isn’t it not in another colour? But it is the rose for me because the rose is very significant to Hillsborough. Why didn’t they put 1996 on the shirt, why 96?”

Brookes said the references to karma were the most hurtful. “Us families and survivors, all we have heard for 29 years is Hillsborough is God’s way of punishing the Liverpool fans for Heysel,” she said in reference to the deaths of 39 people, mainly Juventus fans, who died in 1985 when a wall collapsed at the Heysel stadium in Brussels before the start of a Juventus-Liverpool match.

She added: “That’s what hurts so much. And that’s why I believe this T-shirt is definitely connected and referenced to Hillsborough.”

The campaign group Justice for the 96 pointed out that a Manchester United fan had already used the T-shirt to mock Hillsborough victims.

In case #Topman or #topshop though we are over the top



Here’s a #Manutd fan who’s already mocking 96 dead people because of your top design. #JFT96 pic.twitter.com/G5u2b6aj7l — Justice For The 96 (@TheHoodedClaw66) March 16, 2018

It also tweeted: “So it’s a #BobMarley song and it’s managed to get through God knows how many people before it’s printed. Just shows you how few people know about the biggest sporting disaster and cover-up this country’s ever seen.”