originally by: The Observer  
published: 3 November 2012

Traumatised Hillsborough survivors were “bullied” into changing their witness statements during prolonged and aggressive cross-examination by police officers, according to dramatic new allegations over the extent of the authorities’ cover-up in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Supporters have come forward to describe how West Midlands police subjected them to gruelling interviews lasting up to five hours in which they were coerced into amending statements that had portrayed the police in a negative light.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel, chaired by Bishop James Jones of Liverpool, recorded in September that senior officers had altered scores of police statements to hide the truth about the 1989 disaster, when 96 supporters were crushed to death at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

The new claims that emotionally vulnerable survivors were forced by police into changing their accounts of the disaster have further infuriated victims’ families.

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