Honours for Hillsborough campaigners

Margaret Aspinall and Trevor Hicks have been awarded CBEs for services to the families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989.

They were separately presented with their honours by the Queen during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Mrs Aspinall and Mr Hicks spoke briefly to the Queen after she pinned their medals. The ceremony concluded with Her Majesty shaking their hands.

Mrs Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, along with Mr Hicks, president of the group, campaigned for decades until the quashing of earlier inquest verdicts and the holding of the ongoing new inquests at a special hearing in Warrington.

• Gallery: Honours for the region's community leaders.

Mrs Aspinall's son James, 18, and Mr Hicks's daughters Sarah, 19, and Victoria, 15, were among the 96 Liverpool fans who were killed in Britain's worst sporting disaster.

Mr Hicks described it as a day of "mixed emotions", saying that "it is the first time I have got something that I would rather not have had, for obvious reasons, but I am extremely proud to be here".

• Read more: Inquests into the deaths of 96 victims of Hillsborough disaster.

Two Hillsborough campaigners will receive honours from the Queen later.

Margaret Aspinall and Trevor Hicks will be awarded CBE's for services to the families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the disaster in 1989.

Mrs Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support group, along with Mr Hicks, president of the group, campaigned for decades until the quashing of earlier inquest verdicts and the holding of the ongoing new inquests at a special hearing in Warrington.

• Read more: Inquests into the deaths of 96 victims of Hillsborough disaster.