IT has taken 23 years to expose the appalling cover-up surrounding the Hillsborough disaster.

But it was not successive governments which brought the truth to the surface from the murky depths of police corruption. It was ordinary people – Liverpool fans and relatives of the victims – who refused to give in until the truth had been told.

It is a disgrace that it has taken so long for the victims and their families to be vindicated and an apology received – from the Prime Minister, police chiefs and The Sun newspaper which was unwittingly caught up in the great pack of lies.

The question being asked now is whether the inquest should be reopened.

Why should we wait for an answer? Of course it should.

The original inquest was heard on the completely false premise that nothing more could have been done to save any of the 96 people who died. It was heard amidst a deliberate police conspiracy to hide their own failings and heap the blame on the fans.

That conspiracy included 164 police statements being altered. As if that was not bad enough, criminal checks were carried out in a bid to tarnish the reputations of those who died.

It defies belief that such deceit could go unchecked for so long and is a sad reminder that we should never take for granted the word of those in power but challenge what they say.

A new inquest must be followed by a criminal inquiry to identify those behind one of history’s worst cases of perverting the course of justice.

The Sun’s infamous headline after the disaster was “The Truth”. It was written by the paper’s editor at the time, Kelvin MacKenzie. In his apology yesterday, he said it should have been “The Lies”.

That is The Northern Echo’s headline today.