The family of an Ealing man who died in the Hillsborough disaster are waiting to find out if he was unlawfully killed.
Inquest verdicts into the deaths of Joe McCarthy and 95 other Liverpool fans are due to be announced today for those who lost their lives in the FA Cup semi final against Nottingham Forest in 1989.
A 21-year-old student living in Amherst Road, he went to school at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Kensington . His older brother Jeremy, 22 at the time, was also due to join him on the terraces but changed his mind at the last moment.
Among the questions asked of jurors at the end of the two-year inquest is: “Are you satisfied, so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?”
Fresh inquests into the deaths of the fans, crushed to death in the Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough Stadium, were ordered in 2012 after the High Court quashed the original accidental death verdicts which had stood for more than 20 years, and began in 2014.
At the beginning of the new inquests, Joe’s cousin Anthony Goggins read a statement at the purpose-built courtroom in Warrington. He described Joe as “a natural leader, confident without being arrogant” and went on to say: “Joe was one of life’s good guys.
"He was genuinely a lovely human being, full of you with a zest for life. We all miss him.”
Hundreds of mourners attended his funeral on May 2 1989, held at Ealing Abbey. The Gazette newspaper reported at the time: “He was laid to rest in the colours of the club he loved.”
