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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Gemma Jones

Jenni Hicks says 'there was no compassion' for Hillsborough families

Tomorrow, April 15, marks 33 years since the Hillsborough disaster.

Jenni Hicks' teenage daughters were among the 97 people who lost their lives that day. The grieving mum has now written a book - One Day In April: A Hillsborough Story - dedicated to Sarah, 19, and Vicki, 15, to celebrate their short lives and look back at the day of the disaster.

Appearing on ITV's Lorraine, Jenni chatted to stand-in presenter Christine Lampard about the book, and described the moments when she arrived in Sheffield to find out what had happened to her daughters.

READ MORE: Hillsborough quilt updated with name of 97th victim

The family had already been told Vicki had died, but had had no news about Sarah. The devastated mum was taken to a gymnasium at the football stadium. Explaining the moment, she said: "It was Polaroid photographs on this big green board. It was like intruding on someone else's loved one because you had to look at all of the photographs.

"Even though there were seven females who died at Hillsborough, they didn't separate the females from the males. So I had to look at over, at the time, there were 80 odd photographs."

Jenni said she asked a police officer if all of the people on the photographs were dead. He responded by saying: "Oh it's worse than that love, we haven't got all of the photos up yet."

She said his attitude was as though such a disaster was an everyday thing. She explained how she remained hopeful after not spotting Sarah, on the board, but the officer just told her to "look again." Jenni said: "It was all very matter of fact. There wasn't one ounce of compassion at all."

Christine said that 33 years on we can hopefully celebrate the girls' lives. Jenni replied: "That's what I do. On their birthdays, Christmas or whatever, I celebrate their lives. The book is a celebration of their lives as well - it's not just about their deaths."

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