Entertainment
Anne: Who is Anne Williams and is she still alive?
Anne Williams’ story will be told across a four-part ITV drama (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Anne Williams’ story will air over four successive nights starting from tonight (Sunday, January 2) on ITV, with Maxine Peake taking on the role of Williams.
Her name might not be familiar to everyone before watching the series, but Anne Williams’ story is one that is sure to move many – she is closely connected to the tragic Hillsborough disaster of 1989.
Hillsborough is a dark memory for Liverpudlians as 95 people died following a crush on the Leppings Lane at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Who is Anne Williams, how is she connected to Hillsborough and is she still alive today?
Who is Anne Williams?
Anne Williams was the mother of Kevin, one of the 95 people who died on April 15, 1989, after people were crushed during the Leppings Lane at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Anne became a huge campaigner to find out more about what happened on that fateful day, pushing hard to question how it came to be and to question the official rulings of the coroner.
Maxine Peake as Anne Williams in ITV’s Anne (Picture: ITV)
Part of Anne’s story, which will be shown in the ITV series, focuses on the fact that the coroner ruled that all those who lost their lives in the stadium were dead by 3.15pm, however, a policewoman later came forward and said that Kevin, while lying around nearby emergency services responding to the disaster, asked for his mum at 4pm.
Anne campaigned well into the 2000s, fighting to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
As the ITV series will show, Anne and other Hillsborough campaigners were successful, after a long-drawn-out battle.
Anne’s legacy is deeply important to Liverpool football fans (Picture: Getty)
The Hillsborough Law, which requires a duty of candour from public officials that will make it illegal to lie about or misrepresent their actions while on duty, has its public launch next Friday, alongside an initiative by a group of Merseyside MPs to have the disaster added to the national curriculum.
Is Anne Williams still alive?
Sadly, Anne Williams is not around to see her life story unfold on the ITV series.
However, she lived long enough to see the day the original inquest into Hillsborough was quashed, in a damning judgment of the high court in December 2012, including the ruling that the 3:15pm cut-off was ‘not sustainable.’
Afterwards, speaking softly from a wheelchair on the street outside, Williams told the Guardian: ‘This is what I fought for. I was never going to give up.’
Anne is still celebrated in Liverpool, with a mural tribute of her unveiled in August 2021.
The artwork close to the Arkles pub on Anfield Road was created by Paul Curtis.
Anne begins tonight at 9pm on ITV.
MORE : Sports Personality: Lowdown on Anne Williams, winner of the BBC’s Helen Rollason Award
MORE : Hillsborough disaster: Final memorial service held at Anfield
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