The police match commander in charge on the day of the Hillsborough disaster has agreed that his failure to close a tunnel was the "direct cause" of the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.

David Duckenfield, 70, accepted he "froze" during the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, before he ordered the opening of an exit gate to relieve congestion outside the Leppings Lane turnstile at Sheffield Wednesday.

Up to 2,000 fans entered, with many heading straight for a tunnelwhich Mr Duckenfield had not ordered to be closed and crammed onto the pens on the terrace which led to the crushing.

Mr Duckenfield was responding to questions from Police Federation QC Paul Greaney during his sixth day of evidence at the new Hillsborough inquests in Warrington.

Mr Greaney reminded Mr Duckenfield of his earlier evidence to Christina Lambert QC, counsel for the inquest, about his state of mind after the opening of Gate C when he told her: "It was a momentous decision and your decision is such that you do not think of the next step. My mind for a moment went blank."

Asked again if he had "froze", Mr Duckenfield said: "It appears to be a distinct possibility."

Mr Greaney said: "You know what was in your mind and I will ask just one last time. Will you accept that in fact you froze?"

"Yes sir," said Mr Duckenfield.

Mr Greaney went on: "Do you agree with the following, that people died in a crush in the central pens?"

Mr Duckenfield said: "Yes sir."

Mr Greaney said: "That if they had not been permitted to flow down the tunnel into those central pens that would not have occurred?"

The witness repeated: "Yes sir."

The barrister continued: "That closing the tunnel would have prevented that and therefore would have prevented the tragedy."

Mr Duckenfield said again: "Yes sir."

Mr Greaney said: "That you failed to recognise that there was a need to close that tunnel."

Mr Duckenfield said: "I did fail to recognise that sir."

Mr Greaney said: "And therefore failed to take steps to achieve that."

Mr Duckenfield replied: "I did sir."

Mr Greaney said: "That failure was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 persons in the Hillsborough tragedy."

Mr Duckenfield said: "Yes sir."

During his earlier evidence, Mr Duckenfield denied he "bottled it" and "simply froze" during the FA Cup semi-final tie.

He claimed he was unaware of the geography of the ground, in his first match in charge.

Mr Duckenfield told the 1989 Taylor Inquiry into the disaster that he had made the right decisions on the day but he now accepted that he had made errors, some of which were "grave".

He has told the jury that his serious failings were due to his lack of experience and that others also played their part in the cause of the deaths.

Mr Duckenfield agreed with Mr Greaney that it was "totally unacceptable" for him not to understand the ground's geography.

He also accepted that when giving evidence to Lord Justice Taylor's inquiry, it appeared that he was aware that the congested turnstiles did lead to the central tunnel.

Mr Greaney told the hearing that another officer, operating CCTV cameras from the control box, who was in the control box, who was operating the CCTV cameras, had earlier said he thought Mr Duckenfield was not a leader during the critical period

Mr Greaney asked Mr Duckenfield: "Do you agree that (the officer) was describing a match commander who had frozen?"

Mr Duckenfield said: "It is a possibility, sir, but that is his view and I cannot comment further."

Mr Greaney said: "Can you not tell us whether on that day in that situation you simply froze?"

The witness replied: "Sir, I think it is fair to say that we were all in a state of shock."

Mr Greaney said: "You were the one whose job it was to get past any feelings of shock, do you agree?"

Mr Duckenfield said: "Yes, sir, but I am human."

The hearing continues.