Tributes were paid to Hillsborough mum Sandra Stringer who has died, aged 69, on the first anniversary of the landmark inquest verdicts .

Mrs Stringer’s son Paul Carlile was 19 years old when he was among the 96 Liverpool supporters unlawfully killed in Britain’s worst sporting disaster.

She was at the forefront of the long campaign to reveal the truth about the disaster, being among the six families who unsuccessfully challenged the initial inquest verdicts of accidental death at the High Court in London in 1993.

Undeterred, she was a constant presence over the years as families battled to secure justice for their loved ones.

Pictured below she can be seen campaigning against Norman Bettison ’s appointment as chief constable of Merseyside Police in 1998.

She travelled every day to the private prosecutions in Leeds in 2000 and was a regular attendee at the Warrington inquests which ended last year.

Mrs Stringer’s daughter Donna Miller told the ECHO: “We’re devastated. She fought so hard for years. After the inquest she just couldn’t cope.

“We feel like Paul never got the inquest he deserved. We lost the only witness we had. We made a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and only yesterday were told Operation Resolve had found footage of Paul.

“She never got the chance to see him. Although we got the right verdict, we never got answers and she couldn’t live with that.

“She used to say I’ll go to my grave never knowing what truly happened to Paul.

“We know deep down a part of her died the day Paul was taken.

“We feel like our world has fallen apart and don’t know how we will survive without her.”

Long-time friend Ann Adlington, a solicitor for Liverpool city council’s Hillsborough working party in the aftermath of the disaster, said: “I’m absolutely devastated.

“She was a wonderful person and an absolute warrior. Nobody scared Sandra Stringer.

“She fought from the beginning, trusted nobody in the establishment and she has been proved right.

“She said from day one what a cover up it was and was single-minded and completely focused on getting justice for her son.

“She might have looked small and frail but she was like a lioness protecting her cubs. She was as strong as anybody.

“She’s wanted to be with Paul for 28 years and now she is.”

Nineteen-year-old Paul was due to start a new job the day after Hillsborough and was held in such high regard by his neighbours in Kirkby that, soon after the disaster, a street in the town was renamed Carlile Way.

Mrs Stringer wrote her son’s personal background statement which was read to the jury by her daughter Donna at the beginning of the Warrington inquests.

She said: “Paul was brought up to be a law abiding citizen. He was not a hooligan and he was not a drunk.

“His mum and nan were the most important people in his life.

“When his grandfather died, he could not bear to think of his nan on her own and was torn between the two women he adored.

“He wanted to be with them both so he shared his time between the two houses which was just fine for Paul because he would be spoilt rotten in both homes.

“On 15 April 1989, our world fell apart. He came home on his sister Michelle’s 21st birthday. She no longer celebrates that day.

“We haven’t been allowed to heal. We just want some answers that may give us some peace.

“Paul did nothing wrong that day. He went to watch the team he loved and came home to me in a coffin.

“Our pain will go when we are with Paul again and hold him in our arms.”