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LIVE: Hillsborough inquest verdict expected at 11 a.m. today

Barbara Tasch,Reuters   

LIVE: Hillsborough inquest verdict expected at 11 a.m. today

A boy leaves a tribute for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster are seen at Anfield in Liverpool, Britain April 15, 2016. The 27th annual memorial service for the 96 people who died during a crush at Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield, during an FA Cup match between Liverpool and Nottinham Forest, will be held today at Anfield.

REUTERS/Phil Noble

A boy leaves a tribute for the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster are seen at Anfield in Liverpool, Britain April 15, 2016.

A jury of six women and three men will deliver their conclusions today into how 96 Liverpool Football Club supporters died in a crush at Hillsborough stadium in 1989.

The Warrington jury told Coroner John Goldring that at least seven of them had reached an agreement on the question as to whether the Liverpool supporters were unlawfully killed.

The key issue is whether the South Yorkshire police chief superintendent in command at the match, David Duckenfield, "was responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence of those 96 people."

For the jury to make a manslaughter finding, they must conclude that Duckenfield's judgment "was so bad, having regard to the risk of death involved, as in your view to amount to a criminal act or omission."

The disaster happened at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Sheffield Wednesday stadium. Supporters were crushed to death on the terraces after police made a decision to let them enter the ground through an open gate.

A report in 1990 concluded that the main cause of the disaster was a failure of control by the police. It prompted major changes in safety standards at stadiums in Britain, with perimeter fencing removed and many grounds converted to all-seater stadiums with no standing terraces.

A further report published in 2012 found that police covered up their role in the disaster by altering witness statements, their notes, and other evidence after the fact.

After hearing more than two years of evidence, the jury of six women and three men began its deliberations on April 6 and finished on Monday.

The conclusions will be announced at 11 a.m.

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