A coroner has apologised to the families of those killed in the Shoreham Airshow tragedy for their seven-year wait for answers.

Senior coroner Penelope Schofield expressed her “deepest regret” that the ordeal endured by relatives of those who died had been “added to” by delays to the inquest.

Eleven people were killed after a plane taking part in an aerial display in August 2015 crashed onto the nearby A27. A further 13 people were injured in the incident.

The pilot of the Hawker Hunter plane, Andrew Hill, was charged with 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence, but was found not guilty on all counts in March 2019.

Mr Hill maintains he has no recollection of the crash.

The inquest into the deaths opened in September 2015, but was adjourned in 2018 due to criminal proceedings against Mr Hill.

It resumed in March 2019 after the trial, but hearings set for September 2020 were again postponed due to the pandemic.

Opening the inquest in Horsham yesterday, Ms Schofield said: “On a sunny summer day on August 22, 2015, at around 1.32pm, 11 men were killed and numerous other people suffered significant injuries when a former military Hawker Hunter aircraft ladened with fuel doing an aerobatic display at the Shoreham Airshow crashed onto the A27 in the most horrific circumstances.

“I can only express my deepest regret that the ordeal of all the bereaved has been added to by the time it has taken for these inquests to be heard.

“You have all tolerated a far longer wait for these inquest hearings to commence than I would ever have wished for. I am so sorry you have waited so long.”

The coroner also apologised to families that the inquest would be unable to reconsider “many matters that remain a concern to them” after the High Court denied an application to include some of the evidence from the criminal trial of Mr Hill, including a cockpit video of the crash.

Mr Hill will not be called as a witness, having submitted evidence to the investigation.