Editorial: Anne Williams - a fearless champion of the 96

That Ms Williams has died from cancer is a great sadness, and not just to those who knew her personally

Anne Williams was, simply, an inspiration. After she lost her 15-year-old son, Kevin, in the Hillsborough disaster, she not only refused to accept the inquest verdict, she refused to give up her fight for justice for all 96 victims.

That Ms Williams has died from cancer is a great sadness, and not just to those who knew her personally. The exposure – decades later – of police incompetence at Hillsborough, and the shameful cover-up that followed, is thanks to her as much as to anybody. And for that, we are all in her debt.

Although it is a great shame Ms Williams did not live to attend the new inquest – one she hoped would return a verdict of corporate manslaughter – she was there for the Independent Panel’s exoneration of the dead from all blame and for the quashing of the original verdicts. Liverpool town hall flew its flag at half-mast yesterday, as a mark of respect. She earned it.