Ukip leader Paul Nuttall says claims he lost personal friends at Hillsborough disaster are false
UKIP leader Paul Nuttall has admitted claims he made about losing a close friend in the Hillsborough disaster were untrue.
The MEP fighting the Stoke on Trent central by-election backtracked during a radio interview today - despite the statement appearing on his website in 2011.
At the time he wrote: "Revealing the facts on Hillsborough is hardly a matter of national security, it is a matter of natural justice.
"Without them being made public we will never get to the bottom of that appalling tragedy when 96 Liverpool fans, including close personal friends of mine, lost their lives."
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But today in an an interview with Radio City News he denied saying it in the first place.
He said: "I haven't lost a close, personal friend. I've lost someone who I know.
"I'm sorry about that, but that is something...I haven't put that out. That is wrong."
He added: "I was there that day. I have witnesses. I have people who will stand up in court.
"And it's cruel, it's nasty. And it's making out my family are lying, which is not fair or right."
Claims that the prospective MP's friends died in the tragedy is still shown on Nuttall's website today, which states Paul Nuttall as the author.
This week it was revealed the Ukip chief has been forced to move house due to fears for his safety.
He has vowed to snatch a by-election victory from Labour in Stoke on Trent Central dubbed the “Capital of Brexit”.
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