After 27 years without justice, families of those who perished in the 1989 stadium disaster sobbed and held hands as the jury exonerated their loved-ones and at last held police to account for their failings and the extraordinary cover-up that followed. The jury's findings present a damning indictment of the way the match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was organised and managed by police and local officials - and the failures of emergency services in responding. Commanding officers caused or contributed to the crush on the terrace, the jury decided, as did those senior officers in the police control box when the order was given to open the exit gates at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium. After the verdicts, the families spilled outside the centre where the inquests have been held and sung Liverpool's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.