Man who plans to run 227 miles for Hillsborough Law campaign comes through Sheffield

A runner is passing through Sheffield in his charity trek from Liverpool to London, which aims to raise awareness of the Hillsborough Law campaign.

Campaigners are urging political parties to enact a law which helps victims of major scandals and puts an end to the "criminal abuse of power".

The call comes as Michael Parkin begins his fundraising mission, which coincides with the 35th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster and comes two months ahead of the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Michael, known as Mik, is set to arrive at the Hillsborough Memorial on Sunday (April 14), and finish the run at Grenfell Tower in London on April 20.

His 227-mile charity effort began in Liverpool on Saturday (April 13) and has already taken him through Manchester.

He is planning to average 30 miles a day across eight days.

The 52-year-old Liverpool fan said he believes a new law "could make a massive change", citing the long-running fights for justice victims have endured including those of the Manchester Arena bombings, and the Infected Blood and Post Office Horizon scandals.

The Hillsborough Law, or Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, would include a legal duty of candour on public authorities and officials to tell the truth and proactively co-operate with official investigations and inquiries.

Mik, who was not directly affected by these scandals but was moved after hearing about the Hillsborough Law campaign, said "Everybody who's been affected by this, none of them were doing anything risky at all.

"The Grenfell guys went to bed, the Post Office families went to work and were selling stamps. People went to a football match, people went to a music concert.

"(You) don't expect anything like this to happen and your life turns upside down.

"So not only will it reduce that anguish of getting the truth, it also means when you have the truth, you can change.

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"And it means buildings become safer, going to events becomes safer, the machine that is bringing up the wrong numbers gets out of the Post Office years and years earlier, rather than going through the decades of anguish." Mr Parkin, originally from Durham but now based in Leeds, is encouraging the public to write to their MPs urging them to enact the Hillsborough Law.

In December, the Government stopped short of introducing the legislation, saying it was "not aware" of any gaps or clarifications needed that would further encourage a culture of candour among public servants in law.

It has signed up to a Hillsborough Charter, pledging to place the public interest above its own reputation.

Donations from Mik’s run will go to the mental health charity Mind and the Grenfell Foundation, with an aim to raise £10 per, mile totalling £2,270.

For those who cannot give money, Mik - who works for the British Heart Foundation - has asked that people drop items to their local BHF charity shop, with the aim of meeting a target of 2,270 bags of donations.

Donate via Mik’s online GiveWheel page and follow along for live updates on his Twitter (formerly X).