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06 October 2016 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7717 / Categories: Opinion
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The rule of law in action

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The long-awaited ruling of the Hillsborough inquests shows that justice is worth fighting for, says Jon Robins

It so happened that I was interviewing the formidable Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall on the day that two of the lawyers who worked so tirelessly to win some measure of justice for the families of the 96 dead were recognised at the Halsbury Legal Awards. Elkan Abrahamson and Marcia Willis Stewart received the Rule of Law Award in recognition of their “integrity, tenacity, pursuit of justice and humanity” last week.

I left a sun-kissed Anfield where I met Margaret, chairwoman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, for the award ceremony with her devastating critique of British justice ringing in my ears. She lost her 18-year-old son, James, in the 1989 disaster.

“What made me angry was that all that evidence had been there for all those years,” she told me. “It could have made the families’ lives so much easier but, no, they decided to keep it hidden. Let the fans stand accused, let

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