Hillsborough disaster exonerating the Liverpool fans, MacKenzie issued the following statement: In response, Trevor Hicks, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, rejected MacKenzie's apology as "too little, too late", calling him "lowlife, clever lowlife, but lowlife". A press conference held by families of the victims also banned all "Sun" reporters from entering, with a sign on the door reading "NO ENTRY TO SUN JOURNALISTS". Sales of "The Sun" remain poor in Merseyside and a boycott is still practised. In 2004, its average circulation in Liverpool was 12,000 copies a day. Following the April 2016 verdict of unlawful killing, "The Sun" and
Norman Bettison employees to check for changes often. On 15 April 1989, as an off-duty police Chief Inspector/private citizen Bettison, attended the semi-final FA Cup football match tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. At 15:06 the Hillsborough disaster unfolded, which resulted in 96 Liverpool fans being fatally crushed (although two of them died at later dates), and remains the deadliest stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the world's worst ever football disasters. Bettison subsequently left his seat and joined in the South Yorkshire Police efforts to control the unfolding disaster. He claims to have attended