Thirteen retired or serving police officers have been identified as "suspects" in the ongoing IPCC probe into the Hillsborough disaster, the police watchdog revealed yesterday.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said 11 of them had already been interviewed under caution relating a range of offences including manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

The announcment came as coroner Lord Justice Goldring ruled yesterday that his inquest into the Hillsborough disaster will start on Monday as planned despite delays in getting some of the evidence.

Lawyers for the inquiry had asked for a delay after pathology reports were served late to the families of the 96 victims of the tragedy.

At yesterday's final preliminary hearing, counsel to the inquests Christina Lambert QC acknowledged that it was an "extremely difficult and tense time" for the families.

But the coroner decided to go ahead with the orignal March 31 start date.

"It seems I have to decide between the interests of the families and interests of jury, and I have decided the families will prevail," he said.

The judge opted to have a break after the families present the initial "pen portraits" of their lost loved ones - scheduled to be complete by April 29.

He said: "I understand the emotional commitment of the families to the start date and all that that involves.

Around 250 family members, lawyers and journalists gathered for the hearing on the outskirts of Warrington.

Britain's worst sporting disaster happened on April 15 1989 during Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel delivered a damning report earlier in 2012, concluding that there was evidence of police doctoring statements and attempting to shift the blame onto those who died.

nReading Chronicle editor Maurice O'Brien has been suspended following a front-page article that appeared to link the Hillsborough disaster with football hooliganism.

The article included the statement: "Football hooliganism may be thought of as a relic from a previous age when gangs of denim-clad skinheads held the game to ransom and names like Hillsborough and Heysel were symbols of its ills."