Government to investigate Hillsborough Wikipedia insults

A Cabinet Office spokesman said later: "The amendments made to Wikipedia are sickening. The behaviour is in complete contravention of the Civil Service Code. It is entirely unacceptable.

"This investigation is being led by the Cabinet Office permanent secretary, Richard Heaton, who is responsible for the Government computer network. He will be working closely with the director general for propriety and ethics and her team, as well as other senior officials.

"We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness. Our first priority is to establish the facts and to examine the issues raised. Once we have the facts, we will update Parliament with the findings and consider further appropriate action.

We will be keeping important stakeholders including the Hillsborough Family Support Group, the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, the Rt Rev James Jones, and the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Hillsborough Disaster updated.

"In addition we will invite the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, who has a deserved status as an expert on the disaster, to view all relevant material from the very outset and at every stage so that he can assure himself that all steps have been taken.

"At this time, we have no reason to suspect that the Hillsborough edits involve any particular department, nor more than one or two individuals in 2009 and 2012.

As the first incident happened five years ago and there are hundreds of thousands of people on the Government's network, it may prove challenging to identify who was involved. But we are exhausting every option. Anyone with information should contact the Cabinet Office.

"No one should be in any doubt of the Government's position regarding the Hillsborough disaster and its support for the families of the 96 victims and all those affected by the tragedy."

An investigation is underway after offensive remarks about the Hillsborough disaster were posted on a website from a Government office computer.

The relatives of the victims and Ministers say they're disgusted by the comments on Wikipedia.

The hugely popular website allows amendments and updates on entries from anyone who has an account.

The changes made to the Hillsborough page have been traced back to Whitehall - the Government says it's investigating.

Ralph Blunsom reports.

Families of those who died at Hillsborough have reacted angrily to claims that offensive remarks about the disaster were posted from government offices.

A report by the Liverpool Echo alleges computers on the secure Whitehall intranet were used to add the phrases 'Blame liverpool fans' and 'you'll never walk again' to the Hillsborough Wikipedia page.

The Cabinet Office is launching an urgent inquiry into the matter:-

VIDEO: SHEILA COLEMAN, HILLSBOROUGH JUSTICE CAMPAIGN

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said reports that insulting amendments were made to Wikipedia Hillsborough pages from government computers were "utterly appalling, repugnant and disgraceful".

The first of two IP addresses used in making offensive edits to the Hillsborough disaster page on Wikipedia, 62.25.106.209, can be traced to gateway-101.energis.gsi.gov.uk.

The second of the two IP addresses used to make offensive changes to the page, 195.92.40.49, can be traced to gateway-202.energis.gsi.gov.uk.

The edits to the Hillsborough disaster page on Wikipedia were made by IP addresses 195.92.40.49 and 62.25.106.209, both of which belong to government networks.