Cameron 'sorry' for 1989 soccer stadium disaster

Real danger

While inquiries found hooliganism played no part in the disaster, the police crowd management plan was preoccupied with preventing disorder, the report said.

Liverpool fans had been tainted by the Heysel stadium disaster in Belgium in 1985. Fighting inside that stadium led to Juventus fans being crushed against a wall that collapsed. Six Liverpool fans and 33 supporters of the Italian team died.

A copy of the report delivered by the Hillsborough Independent Panel is positioned next to a copy of today's Liverpool Echo at a news conference in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, in Liverpool, Sept 12, 2012.[Photo/Agencies]

The real danger at Hillsborough lay in the emergency services' poor planning and a stadium that failed to meet minimum safety standards, the report said.

Its capacity was overstated and previous crushes at Hillsborough had been ignored.

Speaking in parliament, Cameron called the disaster "one of the greatest peacetime tragedies of the last century" and acknowledged that the report would be harrowing for relatives of the deceased.

"It was wrong that the families have had to wait for so long - and fight so hard - just to get to the truth," he said. "And it was wrong that the police changed the records of what happened and tried to blame the fans."

"On behalf of the government, and indeed our country, I am profoundly sorry for this double injustice that has been left uncorrected for so long."

The disaster is still an open wound in Liverpool, the port city of nearly half a million people that is passionate about soccer and has fielded players like Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard.

Members of the crowd react during a vigil after St George's Hall in Liverpool, northern England, September 12, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]