Ex-Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie wants an apology from police, arguing their Hillsborough lies led him to publish his notorious The Truth front page.
In a move that has infuriated the families of some of those who died, the former tabloid boss has told his solicitors to write to South Yorkshire Police demanding they say sorry.
The infamous article falsely said fans stole from the dead and urinated and attacked officers.
Margaret Aspinall, who lost son James, 18, in the disaster, said: “What does he want an apology for?
“An apology is exactly what the families wanted 23 years ago, but he failed to give it.
“He’s an absolute disgrace. To even ask for one is ridiculous. How can he have the temerity to do this?”
Steve Kelly, whose brother Michael, 38, died said: “He’s trying to wiggle out of the position he’s in now.
“He’s apologised in the past and then retracted it – the man is just a rat.
Mr MacKenzie, writing today in the Spectator, tells of police patrols being increased around his house and the physical danger he faces in Liverpool.
He writes: “Now I know – you know, we all know – that the fans were right.
“But it took 23 years, two inquiries, one inquest and research into 400,000 documents, many of which were kept secret under the 30-year no-publication rule, to discover there was a vast cover-up by South Yorkshire Police about the disaster. Where does that leave me?”
He questions why other newspapers were not attacked for running similar coverage.
He adds: “Liverpool fans didn’t turn on other media, only the Sun. That has always puzzled me.
"Was it picked out because the paper had always backed Thatcher?”
MacKenzie has apologised for the part he claims he and the Sun unwittingly played in the cover-up - though he famously undermined a previous apology over the affair by saying he didn't mean it and was doing it under orders...