Ayre urges fans to sign petition
Ian Ayre this week wrote to over 130,000 Liverpool fans urging them to add their names to a petition to help a dying mother gain justice for her son after 23 years.
Campaigners want the Attorney General to bring forward the new inquest into the death of Kevin Williams at Hillsborough in 1989. Their petition follows news that his mother and long-time Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams has terminal cancer.
The Attorney General applied for new inquests for all 96 victims following the Hillsborough Independent Panel report in September - but no timescale has yet been set.
If 100,000 people sign the petition, the issue will be considered for debate in Parliament. So far, over 75,000 names have been added to the petition.
Ayre wrote:
Dear Supporter
I am writing to ask you to lend your support to someone in the Liverpool FC family who needs your help.
Anne Williams lost her son Kevin at Hillsborough and has been an ardent campaigner for the last 23 years to bring truth and justice for the families. Kevin was only 15 years old when he lost his life - sadly now Anne has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and as a result, she set up a new e-petition to bring her son's inquest forward. She has been fighting for 23 long years and recently tweeted:
"please bring forward Kevin Williams' inquest, please help I would luv to have my inquest before I die."
New inquests look set to be held into the deaths of all 96 Hillsborough victims following the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report in September, but Anne has now moved into a hospice to be treated for her cancer, so if you haven't already, please take 30 seconds to sign the e-petition and help a dying mother gain justice for her son after 23 years. The e-petition needs to reach 100,000 signatures that is required to trigger a Parliamentary debate.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/40925
Thank you all for your support.
Regards,
Ian Ayre
Earlier this week, a similar letter was sent to all Liverpool FC staff and the same message will be carried in the official programme at Saturday's game against Wigan Athletic.
Liverpool FC has also confirmed it will carry a link inviting fans to sign the e-petition in news stories published on the official website until the petition passes the 100,000 mark or the closing date of January 29, 2013 is reached.
A series of short video messages will be recorded promoting the e-petition and distributed on all club platforms - including social media sites, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter - while a splash page will be created to greet UK visitors to the website on a planned day of action.
Leaflets will be distributed at Saturday's game and tannoy announcements will be made inside the stadium.
If you would like to support Anne Williams, click here to add your name to the e-petition>>
