Hillsborough stories: Kevin Daniel Williams

A schoolboy from Liverpool, Kevin Daniel Williams travelled by train with friends Andrew Duncan, Thomas Nickson and Gregory Fagen, all of whom survived.

This is the full statement to the inquests read by his sister, Sara Williams:

Kevin Daniel Williams was my brother. He was 15 when he died at Hillsborough.

I make this statement at the request of the coroner to provide background information about Kevin and who he was.

I make this statement from my own memories, but also things I have been told over the years. I was only nine when Kev died.

This statement is made on behalf of all of our family and friends who knew and loved Kevin, but in particular for my Mum, Anne who would have been making this statement but for losing her battle with cancer in April 2013.

She would have loved to be standing here telling you all about Kevin and his cheeky ways.

Kevin was born on 27 May, 1973, the middle of three children. We lived in our family home in Formby. There was my Mum, Anne, Dad, Steve, Michael my eldest brother, Kevin and me. Michael was two years older than Kevin and Kevin was six years older than me.

My Mum had two brothers, Danny and Christopher. Kevin got on well with both of them, and Christopher was only a few years older than Kevin.

My Dad has a sister, Penny, who Kevin really liked, especially as she was the one who got him into football and who first got him tickets to go to the game.

Formby was a fairly close-knit community, and everyone knows everyone else and nowhere was that more apparent than at Kev's funeral. Everybody was affected by his untimely death.

I can remember seeing what seemed like thousands of people crammed into the small church at Our Lady's in Formby.

'Crazy for Liverpool'

"Kevin, or 'our Kev' as I always knew him, was mad about football, but crazy for Liverpool Football Club.

He had pictures cut out of magazines on his wall of all his favourite players: John Barnes, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish. He used to go on about football all the time.

Our aunty, Penny, took him to the matches and he loved it. When he was about 13, he went with Michael, our older brother, to the home games and used to tell me how great it was to actually stand in the Kop.

He got a season ticket and started to go to games with his friends Andy Duncan and Stuart Thompson. Andy was his good friend from school and Stuart only lived a couple of doors down from us, and he, too, died at Hillsborough.

Our Kev used to look after me a lot, especially on a Saturday night when Mum and Dad would go out. He and his best friend, Lawrence, or his girlfriend, Esther, would babysit me. They used to arrange parties and other friends from Kev's school would come. I loved it.

Mum and Dad didn't mind them doing this as Kev would always make sure the place was cleared up in time for Mum and Dad getting home.

I really looked up to our Kev and I wanted to go wherever he went and hang around with him. Most older brothers would get fed up with a little sister following them everywhere, but Kev didn't mind me tagging along.

'Always the joker'

He was really laid back and I thought he was really clever, as he did dead well at school. I took an interest in football because I knew he liked it and I begged him to take me to the match with him. I was, of course, too young to go with him.

Kevin Williams was 'crazy' for Liverpool FC, the inquest heard

Kev's sense of humour was one of his most endearing qualities. I can hear his laughter still. He was always the joker. He did really seem to make people laugh. He would take the mickey out of himself a lot and was really fun to be around.

Kev was really into music. He was heavily influenced by our Dad, who he used to call John Lennon, as he had long hair, a beard and played the guitar all the time.

Kev was dead serious about his music. He loved Genesis and Pink Floyd.

He was a lively, intelligent and caring son. He was always willing to help anyone, especially older people. When his granddad had a leg amputated, Kevin was only 13.

For a year, every Saturday morning he would catch the train to Ainsdale where his granddad lived and do all of his shopping for him. The two of them used to talk about football for an hour or so whilst Kev span his granddad in circles in his wheelchair.

His granddad was grief stricken after Kev's death and died two years later.

'Great tragedy'

Kev went to Formby High School and was popular with the pupils and teachers alike. He was naturally clever and my Mum told me that he was determined that he would go to university.

Kev's death was a great tragedy for the school and it gave us great comfort that they held a football match every year in his honour. My Mum would often present the trophy, and last year she was not able to.

The day after my Mum died, my daughter, Lena, was getting up and dressed for school. I didn't think she would go in that day but she insisted that she would as she had been asked to present Kev's trophy and it was what Kev and my Mum would have wanted.

There is also a memorial stone for Kev at the school, again providing comfort for me when I attended the same school and now my daughter, Lena, who attends.

Kev was really close to my Mum, and it would be absolutely no surprise to me if the word 'Mum' was his last.

He used to do stuff for her around the house and it was a regular event on a Saturday night when Mum and Dad were going out that Kev would take my Mum's curlers out and put them away for her.

My Mum fought hard over the years to get the truth uncovered about what happened at Hillsborough, and it is only now that I have children of my own that I understand the relentless determination that came so naturally to her because of the love that she had for Kevin.