By Pamela McGowan and Anna Burdett

Last updated at 13:24, Monday, 17 September 2012

A football fan who says he was labelled as a murderer following the Hillsborough disaster has spoken of his relief that the truth has been uncovered at last.

Dennis Brown

Dennis Brown, of Harraby Green Road, Carlisle, was 23 when he travelled to Sheffield with other Liverpool fans on April 15, 1989.

He had no ticket and didn’t expect to get in, saying he just wanted to enjoy the semi-final atmosphere in the sun.

But he claims aggressive police officers forced him and a group of fans inside the stadium because they wanted them off the streets. He will never forget what happened when they got inside the Leppings Lane End.

“At one point my feet were lifted off the ground in the crush and I couldn’t breathe,” said Mr Brown who works at Pirelli in Carlisle. “I can remember when it first started, there were little kids climbing up the fence to get out. I saw the police pushing them back through the gates. The pressure only stopped when people started going back along the tunnel to the exit.

“I was two to three feet away from people who were dead. It was touch and go who lived and who died.”

Afterwards he says he was painted as a hooligan and a murderer by the media because of the police cover-up. He says because he admitted not having a ticket, people presumed he had been drunk and pushed his way in.

Now 46 and a grandfather, he says he has had to live with these prejudices ever since.

But an independent report published last week has revealed that police tried to blame innocent Liverpool fans for the crush, which claimed 96 lives, as part of a major cover up.

Mr Brown believes his name has now been cleared.

“It’s a relief. All these years people have judged me for something that wasn’t my fault,” he said.

In 1989 he worked on the railways so was entitled to free train travel. He used it to follow his beloved Liverpool across the country every weekend. He would either get a ticket at the game or just soak up the atmosphere and listen to the match on the radio.

“It was very different back then. A lot of people used to go to matches without tickets. It was what you did. I followed them home and away from 1986 to 1989,” he added.

On semi-final day he arrived at Hillsborough with a friend but couldn’t get a spare ticket. He says they grabbed some food from a burger van and sat on a wall by the Leppings Lane End with some other fans listening to the radio.

As the match kicked off he claims they were approached by a police officer who told them to get up.

“We were happy just sitting in the sun. It was the police who shoved me in there. They basically kettled us down to the stand and opened the gate. They just wanted us off the streets,” Mr Brown said.

“I was 23 and we were getting in for nothing so we went along with it, but we didn’t really have a choice. They were nasty with us.”

Mr Brown, who has only been to four Liverpool games since that day, says he will never forget the scenes.

“Twenty-three years ago I was branded a murderer and for half my lifetime I’ve waited for the truth to come out,” he said. “I want the police brought to justice.”

First published at 11:26, Monday, 17 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk