A Liverpool supporter looks at the names engraved on the Hillsborough memorial outside the club's Anfield stadium (Reuters)
A Liverpool supporter looks at the names engraved on the Hillsborough memorial outside the club's Anfield stadium.

A civil servant has been sacked for posting a series of "disgusting" edits on the Wikipedia page of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster - from a government computer.

A 24-year-old junior administrator was found to have made several changes to the Wikipedia page about the tragedy, in which 96 Liverpool fans died and has now been fired for gross misconduct.

An investigation was launched in April, following revelations that changes including altering the phrase 'You'll Never Walk Alone', to 'You'll never walk again', and later to 'You'll never w**k alone' and changing 'This is Anfield', which appears in the player's tunnel which leads to the pitch, to 'This is a S**thole' were all made from government computers.

The man, believed to be a Londoner who was based in Merseyside at the time, is not being named at the request of Hillsborough campaigners.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons confirming the sacking.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson told the Liverpool Echo: "There has been a rigorous and forensic investigation into this and an individual has been dismissed for gross misconduct.

"The person has been dismissed on the grounds that they were responsible for the 2012 edits. They are a very junior and young administrative officer.

"This dismissal is for the 2012 edits only but in the absence of other leads relating to other edits the investigation has concluded."

Margaret Aspinall, chair of Hillsborough Family Support Group, added: "We had a meeting on Friday evening and all the families agreed that his name should be withheld. He has been sacked, and we all took the decision not to name him because social media can be very unpleasant.

"The most important thing is that this has been dealt with and it has not been covered up. He has been punished."

News about the Wikipedia changes emerged during the fresh inquest into the deaths of the victims of the tragedy. The original accidental deaths verdict was quashed following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Report in 2012.