Former Sun editor's solicitors wrote to South Yorkshire police demanding apology for lies that led to 'The Truth' headline

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A chief constable has told the former editor of the Sun Kelvin MacKenzie that he will not be getting an apology relating to the infamous "The Truth" story published in the wake of the Hillsborough football disaster.

MacKenzie provoked fresh anger from the Hillsborough families when it emerged he had instructed solicitors to demand an "apology and recompense" from South Yorkshire police.

Writing in the Spectator magazine, MacKenzie said he suffered "personal vilification for decades" as a result of the newspaper's discredited reporting of the disaster.

The Sun's front-page story, which ran four days after the tragedy in April 1989, claimed that Liverpool fans urinated on police officers resuscitating the dying, and stole from the dead.

According to extracts published on the Spectator's website, MacKenzie writes: "Now I know – you know, we all know – that the fans were right.

"But it took 23 years, two inquiries, one inquest and research into 400,000 documents, many of which were kept secret under the 30-year no-publication rule, to discover there was a vast cover-up by South Yorkshire police about the disaster.

"Where does that leave me?"

The former editor goes on to say police patrols around his house had been increased and describes the "physical danger" he faces in Liverpool.

"But the people who have got away scot-free are South Yorkshire police," he writes, adding that he is seeking recompense for "the lies their officers told".

South Yorkshire's current chief constable, David Crompton, issued a statement which said: "SYP have received a letter from Kelvin MacKenzie's lawyers, which demands the force makes an apology to him.

"We have publicly apologised to the Hillsborough families and the Liverpool fans but we will not apologise to Mr MacKenzie.

"He chose to write his own headline and he should accept responsibility for it."

Sue Roberts, secretary of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, had said: "The gall of that man to paint himself as a victim and for him to ask anybody for an apology; it beggars belief."

On 12 September a damning report by the Hillsborough independent panel said a cover-up took place to shift the blame on to the victims, and that 41 of the 96 lives lost could have been saved.

The panel found that 164 police statements were altered, 116 of them to remove or change "unfavourable" comments about the policing of the match and the unfolding disaster.

The Sun's 1989 report caused widespread revulsion in Liverpool and led to a near total boycott of the paper on Merseyside that exists to this day.

MacKenzie and the current Sun editor, Dominic Mohan, apologised for the newspaper's role after the panel's report was published.