The Cabinet Office has launched an investigation into claims that insults which were sent to the victims and families of the Hillsborough disaster were sent from government computers.
The Liverpool Echo said it had discovered that text on the Wikipedia page of the disaster had been changed from computers within Whitehall. It said that in 2009, "Blame Liverpool Fans" was added to the page, while in 2012 the phrase "You'll never walk alone" was changed to "You'll never walk again" and other insulting variations.
On Thursday a spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: "This is a matter that we will treat with the utmost seriousness and are making urgent inquiries. No one should be in any doubt of the government's position regarding the Hillsborough disaster and its support for the families of the 96 victims and all those affected by the tragedy."
The Liverpool paper said it had discovered that entries were posted from IP addresses used by computers based in government departments, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Her Majesty's Treasury and the Office of the Solicitor General.
Other entries related to Liverpool Football Club were changed. A further amendment included changes to the phrase "This is Anfield", which appears above the players' tunnel at the club's ground, to "This is a shit hole". The words "nothing for the victims of the Heysel stadium disaster" were also added to a description of the Hillsborough memorial at Anfield stadium. On another occasion, the description of a Bill Shankly statue on the Anfield Wikipedia page changed the well-known quote "He made the people happy" to "He made a wonderful lemon drizzle cake".
Margaret Aspinall, of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said the revelations were upsetting. "I don't even know how to react, it's just so sad," she told the Echo. "I hear something like that and it upsets me a great deal, it makes me incredibly sad. I'm glad somebody has found out about it but I'm frightened, to be honest, that we haven't known until now."
An inquest is under way in Warrington, Cheshire, into the causes of the disaster which left 96 Liverpool fans dead and 776 injured at the stadium of Sheffield Wednesday in 1989. A police officer opened a gate to ease overcrowding but instead let more fans into the crowded fenced enclosure on Leppings Lane.
Some police officers and the Sun blamed Liverpool fans for the disaster but the findings of the 1990 official inquiry into the disaster, the Taylor report, concluded that "the main reason for the disaster was the failure of police control". The findings of the report resulted in the elimination of standing terraces at all major football stadiums in England, Wales and Scotland.
Victims' families believe further mistakes contributed to the deaths. In September 2012, the Hillsborough Independent Panel concluded that 41 of the 96 deaths might have been avoided if victims had received prompt medical treatment.
