After almost 20 days of deliberation, a jury finally reached a decision over the Hillsborough tragedy of April 15, 1989, when 96 people were killed during an Liverpool-Nottingham FA Cup Semi Final as a result of a crush on the terraces where the Liverpool fans were located.
The decision, reached by a majority of seven to nine, concluded that after hearing evidence for over two years the 96 victims were unlawfully killed, BBC said, explaining the decision was reached through a 14-section questionnaire that the 16 jurors had to fill out.
The entirety of the conclusions will be formally returned Tuesday, the forewoman of the jurors said.
Fans pay tribute to Hillsborough disaster. | Photo: Reuters
However, BBC said that the jurors already reached unanimous conclusions for 13 of the questions, the remaining question asked whether the victims were unlawfully killed.
The conclusion also implies that the jurors conclusively believe that then Superintendent David Duckenfield, who was the overall person in charge of the police operation, was "responsible for the manslaughter by gross negligence" of those who died, BBC noted.
The hearings are the longest running inquiries in the legal history of Great Britain.
On Tuesday, it other decisions already reached by the jurors will be made public and these will be regarding whether they are sure that the behavior of attendees at the match contributed to the dangerous situation outside the Sheffield stadium, and whether police "errors or omissions" caused or added to the same situation at the match and the crush on the terraces.
The jury have also decided whether police and ambulance service response to the incident also contributed to the deaths.
Photos: Archive
On April 15, 2016, thousands gathered at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium to mark the 27h anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, which is considered one of the worst days in English soccer history.
The names of the 96 victims were read aloud, the youngest being 10-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley, the cousin of current Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
The tragedy shocked the world and led to a new era of modern stadiums across Britain, with banks of terracing and metal fences around pitches disappearing to be replaced by seating and better security, Reuters said.
Over 765 people were also injured in the tragic incident, which the U.K. government wanted to initially and fully blame on fans.
But the families of the victims never accepted this conclusion, forcing authorities to set up a new police probe in 2012, after a high court decision quashed accidental death verdicts from 23 years ago after an independent inquiry found new evidence and absolved the fans of any responsibility, according to Reuters.