Hillsborough Police Release Images Of 19 Witnesses In New Appeal

Police leading a criminal investigation into the Hillsborough disaster are trying to trace 19 people seen in CCTV footage at the stadium.

Officers have released new images of the potential witnesses at the Leppings Lane end of the ground where 96 Liverpool fans died on 15 April 1989.

The people can be seen in the area of Gate C when it was opened at 2.52pm.

Specialists have used recognition techniques to find a number of different images of some of the potential witnesses.

Speaking outside Hillsborough, Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Malkin said: "It's important because we need to understand the full facts around the opening of Gate C at 2.52.

"It's their experience. Who they were with, their entry and how they came to be at Gate C at that time and really their experience of entering through Gate C and what they did, what they saw, what they heard."

Operation Resolve is one of two criminal investigations ordered following the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report in 2012.

It has interviewed more than 1,200 people who entered through Gate C and is due to submit its files to the CPS by the turn of the year.

In April an inquest jury concluded the 96 victims were unlawfully killed.

The court found that South Yorkshire Police "caused or contributed to" the disaster at Sheffield Wednesday FC's stadium.

Leading Hillsborough campaigners are now hoping for prosecutions.

Chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, Margaret Aspinall, whose son James died in the tragedy, told Sky News: "Somebody has got to be accountable for the 96 people who were unlawfully killed.

"It's not vengeful or vindictive, it's about what's right and just. There have got to be prosecutions."

:: Anyone who recognises any of the people identified in the CCTV footage is asked to contact Operation Resolve on 0800 0 283284 or through the website www.operationresolve.co.uk.