HILLSBOROUGH campaigners have been celebrating after a tribute Christmas single was crowned Christmas number one.

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, a version of the ballad that was a worldwide hit for The Hollies, has soared to the top of the chart in its first week of release, with sales topping 269,000.

After a closely fought race, The Justice Collective, featuring artists including Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Peter Hooton of The Farm and Ellesmere Port musician Ian Prowse, saw off X Factor winner James Arthur’s Impossible – crossing the finishing line more than 45,000 copies ahead of its reality TV rival.

Relatives of the 96 football fans killed at Hillsborough, who include three Ellesmere Port families, have campaigned for 23 years to overturn official accounts of what caused the deaths. Last week the High Court quashed the original ‘accidental death’ inquest verdicts and ordered a new investigation into the incident.