THE former MP revealed as one of the sources behind The Sun's controversial coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy said he was "deeply sorry" for his role in the scandal.
But ex-Sheffield MP Sir Irvine Patnick insisted he had been given "wholly inaccurate" information by officers following the 1989 tragedy that claimed the lives of 96 football fans.
His comments follow publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which revealed a cover-up took place to shift the blame from the police response to the victims and that 41 of those who died at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989, could have been saved.
Pressure is also mounting for prosecutions against police officers involved in the conspiracy after the panel found 164 police statements were altered, 116 of them to remove or alter unfavourable comments about the way the force responded to the disaster.
The disaster saw 96 Liverpool supporters die in a crush at the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
South Yorkshire Police, which still employs 195 officers who were on duty at Hillsborough on the day, said the force "is currently reviewing a wide variety of matters raised in the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel with a view to making a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission".
Sir Norman Bettison, the most senior serving police officer who was involved at the time, said he had "nothing to hide".
The former South Yorkshire inspector, who is now Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, also claimed fans at the stadium had made the job of the police "harder than it needed to be".
The comment appears to contradict yesterday's report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel which said fans played no part in the unfolding disaster.
Margaret Aspinall, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, who lost her son James, 18, in the tragedy, called for Sir Norman's resignation.
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