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Hillsborough: PC 'urged' to change Kevin Williams statement | |
(34 minutes later) | |
A former police officer who "felt a pulse" while helping a dying teenager at Hillsborough said West Midlands Police made a "deliberate attempt" to make him change his statement. | |
Derek Bruder was giving evidence as the inquests focused on the final movements of 15-year-old Kevin Williams. | Derek Bruder was giving evidence as the inquests focused on the final movements of 15-year-old Kevin Williams. |
He said he made his first statement shortly after the 1989 tragedy and was visited by police the following year. | |
While the meeting left him "confused", he agreed to make changes. | |
Mr Bruder said he was visited by an inspector from West Midlands Police, who were supplying evidence to the first inquests. | |
He said Insp Matthew Sawers spent six hours with him during which he was asked to speak by phone to a pathologist from the coroner's office. | |
Mr Bruder said he felt under pressure "to concede to the doctor's medical superiority" when the doctor suggested Kevin could not have been alive when Mr Bruder tried to revive him. | |
He agreed to make changes to his original statement. | |
Amongst them he accepted he may have been mistaken to say he had felt "a faint pulse" while trying to save Kevin. | |
Mr Bruder told the jury he was 100% confident he had felt a pulse and seen the teenager move while lying on the pitch. | |
The court heard he wrote to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2012 that West Midlands Police had made a "deliberate attempt" to make him change his statement. | |
He told the inquests he stood by that view, and that the inspector who visited him had not been honest with him. | |
'Definitely a pulse' | |
Earlier Mr Bruder told the inquests that, along with a St John Ambulance volunteer medic who gave heart massage, he had tried to resuscitate Kevin. | |
He said he was "absolutely 100% confident" he felt a pulse in the teenager's neck, adding: "It was not something that would appear to me to be absolutely healthy, beating vibrantly, but there was definitely a pulse." | |
Asked whether he saw any signs of life while giving CPR, Mr Bruder said: "Well, to me he was alive. There was a faint pulse." | Asked whether he saw any signs of life while giving CPR, Mr Bruder said: "Well, to me he was alive. There was a faint pulse." |
The jury also heard from two Liverpool fans who tried to help Kevin while Mr Bruder was with him. | The jury also heard from two Liverpool fans who tried to help Kevin while Mr Bruder was with him. |
One of them, Stephen Rankin, said Kevin did not show any signs of life. | One of them, Stephen Rankin, said Kevin did not show any signs of life. |
Mr Bruder said a female St John Ambulance medic eventually joined the group, and took over the CPR. | Mr Bruder said a female St John Ambulance medic eventually joined the group, and took over the CPR. |
After trying to resuscitate him she said Kevin had died. | After trying to resuscitate him she said Kevin had died. |
The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, continue. | The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, continue. |
Who were the 96 victims? | Who were the 96 victims? |
BBC News: Profiles of all those who died | BBC News: Profiles of all those who died |