The Sun (United Kingdom) a free special issue of "The Sun" was distributed by the Royal Mail to 22 million homes in England. The promotion, which did not include a Page 3 topless model, was announced in mid-May and was believed to be the first such freesheet issued by a UK national newspaper. The boycott in Merseyside following the newspaper's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 meant that copies were not dispatched to areas with a Liverpool postcode. Royal Mail employees in Merseyside and surrounding areas were given special dispensation by their managers to allow them not to handle the publication "on a
Hillsborough disaster at Hillsborough was 67-year-old Gerard Baron, an older brother of the late Liverpool player Kevin Baron (1926–1971), who had been on the losing side in the 1950 FA Cup Final. Stephen Whittle is considered by some to be the 97th victim of Hillsborough, as due to work commitments, he had sold his ticket to a friend (whom he and his family chose not to identify), who then died in the disaster; the resulting feeling of survivor guilt is believed to be the main reason for his suicide in February 2011. The majority of victims that lost their lives were from