Hillsborough campaigner:
Born: February 6, 1951; Died: April 18, 2013.
Anne Williams, who has died aged 62, was a leading campaigner for justice for the relatives of the 96 people who died in the Hillsborough disaster on April 15, 1989. Her 15-year-old son Kevin died on the day and the anger she felt at the manner of his death drove her search for answers and accountability right up until her death from cancer.
From the start, Mrs Williams was one of the loudest voices throughout the campaigners' efforts for justice. It was her fight to get Kevin's inquest verdict of accidental death overturned that is credited with leading to fresh hearings for all the supporters who died.
She was diagnosed with terminal cancer last October, but despite her ill-health carried on her campaign and attended a hearing at London's Royal Courts of Justice in December when the original inquest verdicts were quashed.
She was born Anne Elizabeth Meath in Formby in Liverpool, where she attended the local Catholic primary school. After school, she worked in an office and then as a barmaid. Kevin was her middle son – she had an older son Michael and a younger daughter Sara.
Kevin was among the 96 who died during the infamous FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The original inquest found that they had died accidental deaths, which angered Mrs Williams and other relatives .She disagreed with the original coroner's assessment that Kevin was dead by 3.15pm on the day of the disaster and fought for a new inquest.
Over a 24-year campaign, she presented her evidence to three attorney generals asking for a new inquest, but she was turned down every time. She remained convinced, however, that Kevin could have been saved after 3.15pm had he been given the right medical attention.
"I knew I was right in 1991," she said. "The evidence has always been there and three attorney-generals have let me down. But I knew I was fighting the British legal system."
Eventually, last year, Mrs Williams's doggedness paid off when the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report led to the original inquest verdicts being quashed.
Speaking after the hearing, which she attended in a wheelchair, she thanked Attorney General Dominic Grieve for being a man of his word in pushing for the new inquests.
She said: "I am glad we never gave up. It has been hard, but we wouldn't have been here today. I'd like a corporate manslaughter verdict in the inquest, it's the least for what they have done."
The tributes paid to Mrs Williams in the days after her death – not least at Anfield, where placards in honour of her were held up in the crowd – demonstrated the debt Liverpudlians felt they were due to her.
Steve Rotheram, MP for Liverpool Walton, said that for many, her story was the best-known of the Hillsborough families. "For almost a quarter of a century, the fight for truth and justice became the work of Anne's life," he said.
"She was routinely let down by an establishment hell-bent on protecting themselves rather than protecting the families.
"Kevin's last word before he died on the pitch at Hillsborough was 'Mum'. Anne's relentless pursuit of justice for her son personified the unyielding bond of a mother's love for her child. She was an inspiration to thousands of women across Merseyside and Britain."
Mrs Williams had struggled with terminal cancer for many months, but she was delighted that her campaign had finally succeeded. After the initial inquest verdicts were quashed, she said: "It's a good feeling, because they bounced me from one wall to the other, and I knew what they were doing. I thought 'They're wearing me down, but I'll wear them down before they wear me down'. And I've actually done it."
She is survived by her husband Steven and by her son and daughter.
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