Hillsborough inquests - November 27

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 - November 27

A Hillsborough victim who may have been breathing after the crush received CPR too late, the inquests heard.

The court, in Birchwood Park, Warrington, heard there was some witness evidence of Christopher Edwards, 29, from Ellesmere Port, breathing just before he was picked up in pen three after the crush at the semi-final on April 15, 1989.

Intensive care expert Professor Jerry Nolan said, if the evidence of him breathing was correct, Chris may have had a heartbeat at the time, or may have been displaying gasping breaths seen around the time of cardiac arrest.

Footage showed Chris being carried in the pen at 3.27pm.

Brenda Campbell, representing his family, said: “At the moment that Christopher was found, at around about 3.27pm, for him getting urgent medical treatment was a matter of life or death.”

Prof Nolan said: “Certainly from the time that he’s found, from the description that we have had, the earlier that the appropriate treatment could be got to Chris, the higher the chance of survival.”

But Ms Campbell said almost two minutes passed between the time Chris was first seen and the time footage showed him being given CPR on the pitch.

Ms Campbell says: “The reality of the situation is this, isn’t it Prof Nolan, that the decision to delay the provision of basic life support at 3.27pm until 3.29pm may well, in Christopher’s case, have proven fatal?”

Prof Nolan said: “If he had been able to receive the correct and appropriate treatment in that pen, then yes, it would have made a difference, but, as I have said, I can’t tell, in all honesty, whether that was feasible.”

Prof Nolan said he could not comment on how long Chris received CPR for on the pitch.

Ms Campbell said: “The simple point, perhaps, is this, Prof Nolan, that however long the CPR was at 3.29pm and thereafter, it came, in Christopher’s case, too late?”

Prof Nolan replied: “That I think is true, yes.

The court heard 18-year-old Carl Lewis, a dad-of-one from Kirkby, was given three resuscitation attempts after being taken from the pen.

Carl, whose friend Derek Richards described seeing him alive at 3.10pm, was treated on the pitch and then twice on the service road running alongside the ground.

He was taken to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital where he was confirmed dead.

Intensive care expert Dr Jasmeet Soar said he was confident Carl had died by 3.57pm, when paramedic Peter Howes and off-duty anaesthetist Patrick McHugh gave him advanced life support on the service road.

He said: “A trained paramedic with an anaesthetist is, I would say, as good a combination of a resuscitation team as you could get, in terms of their skill set and the interventions they are capable of providing.”

But he said there were small but plausible chances that Carl still had a heartbeat during the two earlier resuscitation attempts.

Forensic pathologists Dr Philip Lumb and Dr William Lawler said findings of Carl’s post-mortem report could indicate he survived for an hour or more after the crush.

The report recorded brain swelling which could be due to cerebral oedema - a condition which could develop in someone who was alive for an hour or more after a hypoxic injury.

But, the court heard neuropathologists instructed by the coroner and the families had been unable to agree on whether the findings did prove Carl had an extended period of survival.

Dr Lumb said it would be reasonable to believe that the condition could have developed between 3.10pm - when Mr Richards last saw Carl alive - and 3.57pm - when the third resuscitation attempt took place.

But the pathologists said that when taken in isolation the description couldn’t advance understanding about Carl’s time of death.

The jury heard that gaps in the evidence for 23-year-old Andrew Sefton, from Skelmersdale, meant experts couldn’t be certain about when he died.

Footage showed mental health nurse John Nakutis appearing to check Andrew for a pulse as he lay on the pitch at about 3.29pm.

Fans Patrick Shannon, Ian Meakin and Ian Reid, who had all been trained in CPR in the Territorial Army, had described carrying Andrew across the pitch and then giving CPR to him at the Spion Kop end.

But the court heard they had treated more than one casualty on the day and there was confusion about which one Andrew was.

Dr Soar said Andrew died some time before 3.50pm - when he was confirmed dead in the gymnasium.

He said: “Although I think Andrew could be dead at all those time points - when he’s first seen on the pitch being assessed by the psychiatric nurse, when he’s first having CPR - I think there are gaps in the evidence.

“I can’t be certain.”

Pathologists gave the cause of death for the four victims discussed at today’s hearing as compression asphyxia.

A dad-of-three died after 3.15pm on the day of the Hillsborough disaster, the inquests heard.

Henry Burke, 47, from Kirkby, was seen by spectator Ian Johnson appearing to move his head in the pen after the crush.

Mr Johnson, who said a St John Ambulance was on the pitch when he saw Henry, described his colour changing from normal, to red and then to blue.

The court heard the St John Ambulance drove onto the pitch at 3.15pm - which was the time used as a cut-off point in the original inquests into the 96 deaths.

Intensive care expert Dr Jasmeet Soar said: “He does describe the colour changing towards a blue colour and then seeing him stop moving.

“So it could suggest that he’s losing or lost consciousness over that time period, possibly stopped breathing and possibly his heart stopped.”

He added: “I would say he was alive when he first saw him.”

Photos from 3.26pm and 3.28pm showed Henry lying on his back, unattended, behind the goal at the Leppings Lane end.

At 3.34pm Henry was carried on his back on a hoarding across the pitch.

Judy Khan QC, representing Henry’s family, said: “In terms of all the possibilities that exist, one of the possibilities, it is a real possibility, is that Henry’s airway was compromised as a result of being left on his back in that way and by being transported on his back. Is that fair?”

Dr Soar said yes.

He added: “If he was still breathing and had a heartbeat and he’d been put on his side, that may have prevented the airway obstructed.”