The Times says it 'made a mistake' not putting Hillsborough disaster verdicts on front page - but does not apologise

The Times and its sister paper The Sun were criticised for being the only British papers not to lead on the story

A banner hung from the Doric pillars of Saint George's Hall in the centre of Liverpool (Getty Images)

The Times has said it “made a mistake” by failing to run a story on the Hillsborough inquest verdicts on the front page of its first edition.

Every major British newspaper apart from The Times and The Sun had the jury’s damning conclusion that the 96 victims of Britain’s worst sporting disaster were “unlawfully killed” as their main story.

Amid a storm of criticism, The Times released a statement on Twitter early on Wednesday afternoon responding to the criticism, but did not apologise for the omission.

“The Times led with Hillsborough coverage on all our digital editions throughout the day,” the newspaper’s editors said in a statement.

“This morning we have covered it extensively in the paper with two spreads, the back page, a top leader and an interactive on the victims.

“We made a mistake with the front page of our third edition, and we fixed it for the second edition.”

Actor Stephen Mangan was among those expressing outrage on Twitter, where at least two of the paper's own journalists expressed their own opposition to the "unbelievable" decision.

A photo of the families outside the Warrington court room appeared on later editions of The Times, along with a trailer for its coverage that ran into several pages, including an editorial comment.

The Sun newspaper also came under fire for not mentioning the inquest verdicts on its front page, following continued anger from victims’ relatives and their supporters over its now infamous “The Truth” front page, which claimed Liverpool fans were to blame for the deadly crush.

It featured since discredited allegations from an anonymous police officer that some fans had “picked pockets of victims”, “urinated on cops” and that some beat up a policeman giving the “kiss of life”.

Despite not covering the verdict of the two-year inquest on the front page, which cleared the fans of any wrondoing, the paper ran a double-page spread on the outcome, and covered it in their main leader.

The leader within the paper states that after 27 years the “Hillsborough families finally have their first measure of justice”, adding: "We apologised prominently 12 years ago, again four years ago on the front page, and do so unreservedly again now.

"Further, we pay tribute to the admirable tenacity of the friends and relatives over so many years on behalf of the 96 who died.”

Both The Sun and The Times are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s company News UK.

Additional reporting by PA