Liverpool: Two Hillsborough survivors committed suicide after ‘retriggered’ trauma by Paris final

Two Liverpool fans who survived the Hillsborough disaster have committed suicide after being ‘retriggered’ by the scenes that marred the Champions League final in Paris.

Peter Scarfe from the Hillsborough Survivors Support said at an event on Monday the two supporters had taken their own lives since the game at the Stade de France in May.

Sportsmail understands neither fan, one of who was 52 and the other 63, were in attendance at the final against Real Madrid.

A total of 97 Liverpool fans were killed as a result of the deadly crush at Hillsborough, and the chaos that occurred prior to the Paris final evoked painful memories for Reds fans.

Thousands of supporters in Paris were forced into a dangerous situation as they were cramped into tight tunnels as they tried to gain access to the stadium. Some, including women and children, were pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed by French police.

‘This year alone, we’ve had three suicides,’ Scarfe said, according to the Liverpool Echo. ‘That’s three too many.

‘One was just before the anniversary because he didn’t want to face another anniversary, two of them were retriggers from Stade de France.

The game was delayed for 35 minutes as scenes outside the ground disrupted proceedings

‘The memory of 1989 has come back to haunt them because the events at the Stade de France have many points in common with those at Hillsborough. 

‘In both cases there were crowd movements complicated by bottlenecks, people pressed against each other under a tunnel, blocked turnstiles preventing entry into the stadium and above all false charges later.’ 

Scarfe also said the group had ‘put fans through therapy’ in the wake of the events in Paris, which are the subject of an ongoing UEFA investigation. 

‘We shouldn’t be doing this, it shouldn’t be happening,’ he added. 

Nearly 2,000 Liverpool supporters are suing UEFA for their organisation of the final, claiming they were injured or left with psychological trauma by the incidents.

Liverpool fans are suing UEFA over their treatment at the Champions League final in May

The game between the Reds and Real Madrid was delayed by 35 minutes after disruption outside the stadium, with UEFA first blaming ‘security issues’ for the hold up. 

According to the BBC, law firm Binghams have teamed up with global law company Pogust Goodhead in a lawsuit for 1,450 clients alleging negligence.

Gerard Long from Binghams said: ‘As a life-long Liverpool fan, I was absolutely horrified when I heard how events unfolded at what should have been the highlight of the football season.

Many fans were ‘injured or left with psychological trauma’ outside the Stade de France in Paris

‘Not only fellow fans, but my friends, family and clients who were in attendance that day have spoken of the terrifying scenes that surrounded the Stade de France before, and even after, the game.’

Sportsmail revealed earlier this week that the chaos experienced by fans at the final was triggered by a technological meltdown combined with erroneous pre-match messaging and negligent crowd control.

Technology failure, identified by multiple fan witnesses precipitated much of the chaos, but was exacerbated by the crowd control error, which saw 37,000 Liverpool fans directed to an entrance designed for about 10,000 to 12,000 fans. 

At last May’s event, failure of ticket scanners and a tech meltdown caused abnormal queues, overcrowding and a loss of control by the authorities, with aggressive stewards assuming that scanning failures meant they were dealing with multiple forgeries, when in fact tickets were genuine. Indeed, fans with both paper and digital tickets were denied entry and have yet to receive compensation.

The problems also meant some stewards allowed hundreds of fans to crawl in beneath turnstiles, because they judged their tickets legitimate. Though well intentioned, as they recognised the dangerous crush behind them, their actions meant authorities then lost control of how many legitimate ticket holders were in the stadium.

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details.

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