Hillsborough inquests - July 14

The Hillsborough inquests commenced on March 31, 2014 and are the subject of reporting restrictions that have been imposed by the Attorney General's office. Liverpool Football Club is respectful of these restrictions and will therefore only be making available updates from other media channels for the duration of the inquest.

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 - July 14

A Hillsborough victim left the pens where the fatal crush happened - but was directed back into them by a steward, the inquests heard.

Peter Burkett, 24, from Rock Ferry, was seen by a friend walking out of the Leppings Lane terrace before the disaster at the semi-final on April 15, 1989.

Anthony Turner told the court, in Birchwood Park, Warrington, he had seen Peter in the tunnel which led to the central pens.

He said Peter told him he had been separated from his friend Jonathon Owens, who was also among the 96 who died in the tragedy.

Mr Turner said: “He basically said it was very bad. I think he said ‘it’s murder in there’ or words to that effect.

“Basically it was a case of, he was coming out because it was so bad.”

He said they walked out of the tunnel and went to a man, who he believed was a steward, to ask if there was another way into the terracing.

He told the court the steward pointed back down the tunnel and told them to go that way.

He said: “It was as if he’d been asked the same question again and again and he was like ‘just go back down there’.”

Mr Turner said when they went back into the tunnel the match had started and a Liverpool player hit the crossbar.

He said: “I remember, after that buzz of excitement and there were people behind us as well, as I remember, that was pretty much, very shortly after that point, the point of no return.

“We couldn’t come out of the tunnel.”

He said he and Peter had decided to try and stay together but once they got into the pen they weren’t able to.

He said: “Peter went off towards my right. We tried to stay together, as I say, and he just looked around with a shrug and a half smile.

“He just looked at me and he said ‘see you later’, words to that effect.”

The court heard Peter had travelled to the match with Jonathon and Michael Robertson.

Mr Robertson told the court he had lost sight of both Jonathon and Peter after they were carried forward with the crowd in pen three and did not see them alive again.

He later saw Peter lying on the pitch.

The court was shown footage from 3.19pm of officers dragging Peter through the gate in the pen and onto the pitch.

Andrew Barlow, a PC, was shown helping to carry Peter out of the pen and then taking a St John Ambulance man to him.

He said: “I didn’t give him any first aid because the chap looked completely lifeless.

“The St John Ambulance guy, looked, you know, in an absolute panic.”

At 3.28pm footage showed Nottinghamshire police officer Brian Walton approaching Peter and putting him into the recovery position.

Mr Robertson was shown approaching his friend on the pitch at 3.29pm.

He said: “I stood several feet away, there was a police officer over him, kneeling down over him, trying to find the pulse from his carotid artery and I kind of like just stood there for a few seconds and then when it was clear that he’d died, then I moved away in order to try and locate Jonathon.”

Mr Robertson was later shown on photos helping to carry Peter across the pitch on a hoarding, although he told the court that at the time he did not realise it was his friend.

Brian Carl Williams, a Liverpool fan who also helped to carry Peter on the advertising board, said he thought he looked unconscious rather than dead.

He said: “He looked asleep compared to the people who were in the pens, the injuries that we saw in the pens.”

The court heard Peter was placed on the pitch at the Spion Kop end of the ground before being carried towards the gymnasium.

He was confirmed dead by Dr Andrew Byrne in the gymnasium and was identified by Mr Robertson at 1.30am the following day.

A police officer who helped to pull casualties from the terraces at Hillsborough said he felt a hand pulling at his trouser leg.

Evidence from police sergeant Andrew Eddison was read to the Hillsborough inquests as the jury heard evidence on 19-year-old Colin Wafer, from Anfield.

In his statement Mr Eddison described pulling bodies from the area around the gate of pen three.

He said he saw two piles of bodies and realised some of the casualties in there were alive but trapped.

He said: “As I was pulling legs and moving the bodies up so they could be pulled out onto the pitch, I became aware of some pulling on the bottom of my trousers.

“I could see a hand from the bottom of the pile of bodies grabbing my trousers, somebody was still alive.

“The pulling on my trouser leg stopped.”

He said after other casualties were removed he saw a boy lying face down at the bottom of the pile.

Mr Eddison was identified on footage helping to carry Colin from the pen.

Off-duty Met police officer Steven McPherson Allen, who was at the match as a spectator, was also shown on the footage pulling the teenager from the pen at 3.19pm.

Glenda Wood, a police officer on duty on the day, described giving CPR to Colin on the pitch but said a St John Ambulance man told her he was dead, so she placed an anorak over his face.

The court heard that at 3.25pm Colin was moved further up the pitch.

Jill Brooke, a police woman who had been on duty with colleague Anthony Bevis, said a group of fans, who she assumed were friends of Colin’s, brought him to them.

She said: “They were obviously very agitated and upset and realised that he was very seriously ill, or even worse at that time.

“They saw myself and PC Bevis and thrust him towards us.

“So we took him off them and sort of like fell to our knees with him and then tried to resuscitate him.”

She told the court they gave CPR to him but were then approached by Sheffield Wednesday physiotherapist Alan Smith, who told them Colin had died.

Footage from 3.29pm showed Colin being carried across the pitch to the gymnasium.

Special constable Joseph Finnerty said he helped to carry the hoarding with Colin on.

He told the court it was placed on the pitch briefly at the Spion Kop end, where a doctor checked him and told them he had died.

Mr Finnerty helped to carry Colin into the gymnasium and remained with him until early the next day, when he was taken to the Medico-Legal Centre.

He was with Colin when his brother Ian identified him at 1.30am the next day.

Brenda Campbell, representing Colin’s family, told Mr Finnerty: “On behalf of Colin’s family, they appreciate you coming to court to give evidence today, It can’t have been easy.

“They have often wanted to thank you over the years. They do so today, for everything you did and for being with Colin.”

The inquests continue.