Hillsborough inquests - October 6

The report below - and the witness testimony contained within it - does not necessarily reflect the views of Liverpool FC. Please be aware that the reports on these pages will contain evidence about the day of the disaster which may be distressing.

To view archive reports from each day of the inquest hearings, click here.

Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo - October 6

The school friend of a Liverpool fan killed at Hillsborough said when he saw him in the crush he asked “when is this going to stop?”

The inquests into the 96 deaths heard 23-year-old Andrew Sefton, from Skelmersdale, went into pen three of the Leppings Lane terrace with friend Anthony Campbell.

Mr Campbell told the inquests: “As we got further into the crowd, we kind of had a look around and realised that there was more space in the pen to the right-hand side, and we did consider going back up the steps and back out of the terrace and into pen two, but because we’d gone down a few steps. and it was quite busy, we just thought, no, we’ll be fine, we’ll be fine where we are, so we just decided to stay.”

He said pressure in the pen built up.

He said: “We were forced further towards, further down the steps of the terrace.

“As we were kind of going further into the terrace, then the pressure was beginning to build up.”

He said during the crush he was able to duck down under a crush barrier, but Andrew remained behind it.

He said: “I did say something along the lines of ‘this way’ or ‘come this way’ or ‘come under’ and then he’d said something along the lines of either ‘no, I’m fine’ or ‘I’ll stay here’ but along the lines of ‘I’m fine’.”

He told the court: “I think it was more like ‘I’m stuck, but I’ll be fine, I’ll be OK’.

“I think it was more along those kind of lines.”

He said at that time Andrew looked hot and flushed.

He said: “He didn’t seem distressed, no. He just seemed uncomfortable and hot.”

Mr Campbell said he did not see his friend again after he ducked under the barrier and said he learnt much later that the barrier had collapsed.

John Hughes, a classmate of Andrew’s, said he had seen the security guard in the pen against the barrier.

He said: “I hadn’t seen him for quite a while, since we left school, and we ended up sort of on the barrier together and said hello.

“It was quite a strange place to meet someone.”

He told the court: “He was asking me, he said ‘When is this going to stop?’ I said ‘Yeah, it will stop any minute’ and then the bar went.”

He said Andrew was distressed and shouting “f***ing hell”.

He described Andrew’s face becoming a red and blue colour.

He said: “I got the impression that he wasn’t getting enough oxygen inside his body.”

Mr Hughes, who was taken to hospital after the disaster, said he last saw Andrew when the barrier collapsed.

The court was shown footage of Andrew being carried from pen three onto the pitch at 3.27pm.

A spectator identified as mental health nurse John Nakutis was shown touching Andrew’s neck as if checking for a pulse.

Footage showed Andrew, with a black leather jacket over his face, being carried across the pitch at 3.30pm.

Fan Patrick Shannon identified himself as one of those helping to carry Andrew, along with friends including Ian Meakin and Ian Reid.

Mr Meakin was shown on photos appearing to feel Andrew’s wrist for a pulse and Mr Shannon said at some point he shouted “he’s not breathing”.

Mr Shannon said: “I believe he was still breathing until Ian Meakin told or shouted out that he’d stopped breathing.

“At that stage, I thought he was still breathing.”

He was shown on photos giving mouth-to-mouth to Andrew and told the court they had tried to revive him but after getting no response they believed he was dead.

Andrew was later taken to the gymnasium and confirmed dead.

The court heard his mum, Theresa Sefton, travelled to Sheffield with her husband and son-in-law Leo Fallon.

Mr Fallon identified Andrew’s body at 1.10am and Mrs Sefton identified her son at 2.30am.

Christina Lambert, counsel to the inquests, said: “Mrs Sefton had been a nurse for 20 years, She noted that when she touched Andrew’s face it was still warm to her.”

The Hillsborough inquests were shown footage of a teenager smiling and punching the air on the terrace before the fatal crush.

The court, in Birchwood Park, Warrington, heard evidence about 17-year-old Keith McGrath, from Wavertree.

Footage from between 2.40pm and 2.51pm showed the apprentice painter and decorator towards the front of pen.

He was seen smiling as he stood in the crowd and was later seen punching the air as the team names were read out in the stadium.

Video from 3.24pm showed Keith being passed over the radial fence from pen two into pen three and then carried out through the gate onto the pitch.

Philip Wyer, who was a PC in 1989, was shown helping to carry him to a space on the pitch and then kneeling down beside him.

In a statement, he said: “I took hold of and carried a white male, around 24 years of age, with short blonde hair.

“He was carried quite a number of yards onto the pitch before I found sufficient room to lay him down.

“This was due to all the other bodies being attended to.

“When room had been found, I knelt by his side.”

He told the court he did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while another officer carried out chest compressions.

He said: “I believe there was absolutely no change at all in the casualty’s condition.”

He told the court he checked for a pulse before and after treatment but could not find one.

He said: “I had a conversation with the other officer and one of us agreed to remain with him and I returned back to where there were other casualties that I may have been able to assist in some way.”

Keith was shown being carried across the pitch at 3.32pm.

Footage from 3.36pm showed him being treated at the Spion Kop end.

St John Ambulance volunteer Andrea Fiddler was shown kneeling beside him, but the court heard she had been unable to recall specific details.

The court heard Keith was carried into the gym, where he was confirmed dead at 4.06pm.

He was identified by his uncle Ronald McGrath at 4.30am the next morning.