Hillsborough rescuer tells how police superiors forced her to lie about boy's death

EXCLUSIVE by Kate Mansey 25/04/2009

A Hillsborough policewoman has become the first officer to admit she was bullied into changing her statement in a huge police cover-up.

Special Constable Debra Martin made a statement telling how a Liverpool fan of 15 died in her arms at 3.55pm on the day of the tragedy, which claimed 96 lives.

But officers branded her a "liar" and forced her to change the time in her account to 3.15pm to hide the fact he could have been saved.

Crucially, police have always claimed victims of the disaster died almost instantly in the crush that forced the FA Cup game's end at 3.06pm.

They used that as the excuse for allowing only one of 45 ambulances on to the pitch to help victims. And the coroner Dr Stefan Popper brought in a "cut-off" point, ruling that all the victims were dead by 3.15pm.

But today Debra tells how at least one of the victims - teenager Kevin Williams - was still alive 40 minutes later. She said she gave Kevin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and remembers how he looked up at her just before he died and murmured the word "Mum".

Debra, 45, is the first member of South Yorkshire Police to go public with her revelations about cover-ups and her evidence could prove vital in a new inquiry...............

More here:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/04/25/hillsborough-rescuer-tells-how-police-superiors-forced-her-to-lie-about-boy-s-death-115875-21308274/

Hillsborough: Retired police constable claims that Government knew of cover-up

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/04/26/ministers-knew-of-changes-115875-21309095/

By Mirror.co.uk 26/04/2009

A retired police constable who had his statement doctored after Hillsborough has released a letter to the Sunday Mirror proving the Government knew of the cover-up.

The statements are in more than 300 boxes of secret Hillsborough files in the hands of South Yorkshire Police.

The former PC - who wants to be known only as "John" - said his statement was changed to remove any criticism of the SYP operation that day.

Then, a letter sent to him NINE years later reveals the Government knew there was a cover-up and officers' "recollections" were "vetted".

Chris Bone, secretary of The Hillsborough Scrutiny - set up by then Home Secretary Jack Straw to analyse the original investigation - wrote: "We wanted to make contact with you because the recollections which you produced seem to have undergone important changes."