Nurse in Hillsborough crush tried to revive two people amid 'utter bedlam'
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Version 0 of 1. The scene at Hillsborough in 1989 when 96 people died at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was “utter bedlam”, the inquests into the disaster have been told. Michael Hollinghurst, an experienced nurse who was in pen 4 of Hillsborough’s Leppings Lane terrace, supporting Liverpool, said he believed he was going to die in the crush, then after it eased, he saw two people lying on the ground and immediately starting trying to revive them. Questioned by Nick Brown, the barrister representing the family of Steven Robinson who was 17 when he died at Hillsborough, and is believed to have been the second person Hollinghurst tried to help, he said: “It was utter bedlam, yes. That is a good word for it.” He continued: “I thought I was going to die. If the crush hadn’t subsided I’m convinced I would have.” Of his efforts to save Steven and the other man, higher up on the terrace, by running between them to give them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions, Hollinghurst told the inquests: “My training kicked in automatically. I’d just been in the crush myself, so I was in a bit of an exhausted state.” Two more of those who died were also considered on the latest day of this phase of the inquests, which is examining the physical movements of all 96 victims. David Hawley, 39, a mechanic and father of three, went to the match with his brother-in-law, Kevin O’Neill, Kevin’s son Stephen, 17, another nephew, Paul Owens, and a friend, David Chambers. Both Hawley and Stephen O’Neill, who were in pen 3, died having been crushed. Steven Robinson, the court heard and saw on BBC footage from the day, was brought out of pen 4 as police officers and supporters were tearing and kicking at the fence in front of it. He was placed on a stretcher, then put into a St John ambulance which had arrived on the pitch. A South Yorkshire police inspector, John Harper, then ordered that Steven and another person be taken off the ambulance, because they were already dead and it was needed for people alive and in need of help. In some testy exchanges with Brown, Harper, giving evidence by videolink, ultimately agreed that he may not have examined the two bodies for a pulse and signs of life before he decided they were already dead, but he said decisions had to be made under pressure. Initially asked if it was more likely he had not assessed Steven, Harper had replied: “Not at all, no. I’m trying to save people, not kill them.” Colin Haywood, then a police constable, said he saw Harper bend down in the ambulance, but not put his hands on either of the people inside. He then brought them out, and they were placed on their backs on the pitch, not in the recovery position, and nobody stayed with them. Later, supporters came with advertising hoardings they were using as makeshift stretchers, and carried Steven Robinson to the gymnasium at Hillsborough, which South Yorkshire police were using as a mortuary. Martin Carey, a Nottingham Forest fan who had extensive St John ambulance training, gave evidence about resuscitation efforts he made for Stephen O’Neill, who he said had a weak pulse when he first saw him in the pitch. Carey tried to revive Stephen, then went with him when he was placed on the floor of an ambulance, which was already carrying another of the 96 who died, Vicki Hicks, 15, and another casualty. Vicki’s father, Trevor, gave evidence last week, including about having to try not to stand on a man on the floor of the ambulance. Carey explained that he stayed with Stephen because he felt “a kind of bond, and we had to finish the job. I really believed that we could get Stephen back breathing again; and I felt a connection, that he was partly my responsibility to get back to safekeeping.” On the journey, however, Stephen’s condition deteriorated, and when they arrived at Sheffield’s Northern General hospital it was “ill-prepared”, Carey said, with only two trolleys for the three people in the ambulance. Stephen was later pronounced dead at the hospital, and his body was taken back to the gymnasium. No witnesses have been found who saw David Hawley at the match; one photograph of him holding his head up in the crowd was shown on screens in the court on Tuesday. A police constable, Fiona Nicol, gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the pitch, the inquest heard, immediately after she had done the same with Adam Spearritt, 14, another of the 96 people who died. Hawley, Stephen O’Neill and Steven Robinson were identified by relatives in the gymnasium late during the night. Paul Owens, who had gone to the match with Hawley and Stephen O’Neill, identified their bodies at 1:35am, then had to tell Stephen’s father that he was dead. Bernard Robinson, who had dropped his son Steven off at the coach that morning of the FA Cup semi-final, identified his body in the Hillsborough gymnasium at 2am. The families of all three men were in the court in Warrington, listening in silence to the evidence. The inquests continue. |