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Whining Paul Nuttall has claimed he is the real victim of a Hillsborough “smear campaign” as he failed to condemn a UKIP pal’s attack on the justice campaigners.

Mr Nuttall moaned he has faced “the most difficult circumstances of my life” this week after being caught falsely claiming on his website to have lost “close personal friends” at Hillsborough .

But the UKIP leader said he has been the real victim of the crisis now engulfing his bid to win next week’s crunch Stoke by-election.

“I have been the victim of a cruel and evil smear campaign,” Mr Nuttall told BBC Radio Stoke.

“There was a mistake on my website which was put up by a press officer – I take full responsibility. It’s now been taken down.”

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Mr Nuttall accused his opponents of wrongly claiming he was not at the 1989 match himself, adding: “I was there, I was at the game, I can prove I was at the game.”

But the hypocritical UKIP leader made no reference at all to the disgraceful slurs dished out by his party’s biggest donor Arron Banks against the brave Hillsborough campaigners.

Mr Banks tweeted on Tuesday night that he is “sick to death” of hearing about Hillsborough and accused campaigners of “milking” the tragedy.

And giving his verdict on the unlawful killing of 96 innocent fans, Mr Banks added: “Accidents happen.”

Opponents are now piling pressure on new leader Mr Nuttall to condemn the comments and vow never to take another penny from the millionaire tycoon, who has bankrolled UKIP for years.

(Image: Getty)

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: “Nuttall should utterly condemn these ignorant and appalling comments on the Hillsborough disaster.

“UKIP should never take another penny from this man.”

Mr Nuttall has faced a disastrous week in his bid to become an MP after a series of other fake claims were also exposed, including that he lived at an empty address in Stoke and was once a professional footballer.

He disappeared completely for two days and even took down his personal website, where many of the fake claims were published.

Asked why he had not turned up for a Stoke hustings event yesterday morning, Mr Nuttall said he was writing a speech for a UKIP conference being held 55 miles away in Bolton.

“I was writing my speech for the conference,” he said.

“Because of the week I’ve had, and because of the situation I found myself in, I’ve had to juggle everything around. I had to ensure I was in Liverpool on Tuesday and on Wednesday as well.

“There was nothing I could do about that – that was the circumstances I found myself in. The most difficult circumstances I have ever been in my life.”