Former chief superintendent David Duckenfield has apologised after admitting that he lied about the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
Duckenfield had previously claimed that fans had forced open a gate at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium, leading to the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters before the team's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
However, giving evidence at the Hillsborough Inquests in Warrington, Duckenfield admitted that he had ordered the gate to be opened prior to kickoff after being told by a colleague that police were becoming overwhelmed by the number of supporters trying to enter through the turnstiles.
Duckenfield then lied to the Football Association's David Kelly about what had happened before missing the chance to correct himself inside the ground's boardroom in the time after the disaster.
"I was probably deeply ashamed, embarrassed, greatly distressed and I probably didn't want to admit to myself or anyone else, what the situation is," he told the inquest.
"What I would like to say the Liverpool families is this, I regret that omission and I shall regret it to my dying day.
"I said something rather hurriedly, without considering the position, without thinking of the consequences and the trauma, the heartache and distress that the inference would have caused to those people who were already in a deep state of shock, who were distressed."
The Hillsborough Inquests continue.
Jack Prescott
