Hillsborough: Former Sun editor apologises to Liverpool

Kelvin MacKenzie said he was "totally misled"

The former editor of the Sun has offered "profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool" for blaming fans for the Hillsborough tragedy.

It follows the release of a report into the disaster which resulted in the death of 96 fans.

Kelvin MacKenzie wrote the headline The Truth on the front-page story which ran four days later.

Trevor Hicks, of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, said it was "too little, too late".

In a statement Mr MacKenzie said: "Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans were killed in the tragedy at Sheffield Wednesday's ground

"I too was totally misled. Twenty-three years ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium.

"I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster.

"As the prime minister has made clear these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters thereby shifting the blame for the tragedy from themselves.

"It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have been far more accurate had I written the headline The Lies rather than The Truth.

"I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong."