UKIP leader in Hillsborough admission

UKIP leader and North West MEP Paul Nuttall yesterday admitted that claims he lost close personal friends in the Hillsborough disaster are false.

Speaking to Liverpool radio station Radio City Talk, he was asked about claims on his website that he had lost ‘close personal friends’ in the 1989 disaster.

He said: “I haven’t lost a close personal friend, I’ve lost someone who I know.”

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He said he did not know who had written the claims, which appeared on his website in 2011, adding: “I haven’t put that out, that is wrong.”

In an entry on the website in August 2011, Mr Nuttall called for the Government to release files on Hillsborough and was quoted as saying: “Without them being made public we will never get to the bottom of that appalling tragedy when 96 Liverpool fans including close personal friends of mine lost their lives.”

Mr Nuttall previously said he was ‘hurt, angry and disgusted’ after an article in The Guardian looked to cast doubt on his claim he was present when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.

Mr Nuttall said he was at the match with his dad and two uncles.