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| 'I'm dying, help me': Hillsborough survivor tells of friend's last moments | 'I'm dying, help me': Hillsborough survivor tells of friend's last moments |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The friend of a teenager who died with 95 other people in the crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough has described him as being “petrified,” and pleading for his life, during his last moments in the overcrowded “pen” of the football ground’s Leppings Lane terrace. | The friend of a teenager who died with 95 other people in the crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough has described him as being “petrified,” and pleading for his life, during his last moments in the overcrowded “pen” of the football ground’s Leppings Lane terrace. |
| James Thomas, visibly restraining his emotions while giving evidence at the new inquests into the disaster, said he would have done anything to help Gary Church, but could not move at all himself and was struggling to breathe as the crush tightened. | James Thomas, visibly restraining his emotions while giving evidence at the new inquests into the disaster, said he would have done anything to help Gary Church, but could not move at all himself and was struggling to breathe as the crush tightened. |
| Their group of friends had been separated during surges in the crowded pen at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground, and Thomas had found himself close only to Church in front of a crush barrier, which then collapsed. Thomas said he caught a glimpse of Church’s face as they fell forward with great force, and that was the last he saw of him. | Their group of friends had been separated during surges in the crowded pen at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground, and Thomas had found himself close only to Church in front of a crush barrier, which then collapsed. Thomas said he caught a glimpse of Church’s face as they fell forward with great force, and that was the last he saw of him. |
| The friends, all young Liverpool supporters, had met up outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles to watch the match against Nottingham Forest together. In the lethal crush which happened in pen three of the terrace, Church, 19 at the time, Simon Bell, 17, and Christopher Devonside, 18, all died. Four of their friends came to the inquests, 26 years on, to give evidence about their last sightings of the young men in the horror of the crush. | The friends, all young Liverpool supporters, had met up outside the Leppings Lane turnstiles to watch the match against Nottingham Forest together. In the lethal crush which happened in pen three of the terrace, Church, 19 at the time, Simon Bell, 17, and Christopher Devonside, 18, all died. Four of their friends came to the inquests, 26 years on, to give evidence about their last sightings of the young men in the horror of the crush. |
| Thomas, and another friend, Will Hutt, recalled Devonside, who was studying for his A-levels at the time, becoming “perturbed” that the pen was overcrowded, and wanting to move out of it. | Thomas, and another friend, Will Hutt, recalled Devonside, who was studying for his A-levels at the time, becoming “perturbed” that the pen was overcrowded, and wanting to move out of it. |
| “The only conversation we had was that it was very packed,” Thomas said, “and we were concerned. But the main concern was that we couldn’t do anything about it. There was talk of trying to move out and go somewhere else, but there was no question of that happening. It was just an idea.” | “The only conversation we had was that it was very packed,” Thomas said, “and we were concerned. But the main concern was that we couldn’t do anything about it. There was talk of trying to move out and go somewhere else, but there was no question of that happening. It was just an idea.” |
| Thomas, picking himself and Church out on colour BBC footage of the crush – played to a silent courtroom including family and friends of the three teenagers – recalled Church’s fears as the crush tightened towards the semi-final’s 3pm kick-off. | |
| “Gary was asking me for help; he looked very distressed,” Thomas said. “He shouted my nickname, ‘Dava’. ‘Help me.’ He said: ‘I’m dying, help me.’ I shouted back to him that I couldn’t help him. I said: ‘I can’t; I can’t move.’ And he looked at me very angrily. He said: ‘You fucking bastard.’ | “Gary was asking me for help; he looked very distressed,” Thomas said. “He shouted my nickname, ‘Dava’. ‘Help me.’ He said: ‘I’m dying, help me.’ I shouted back to him that I couldn’t help him. I said: ‘I can’t; I can’t move.’ And he looked at me very angrily. He said: ‘You fucking bastard.’ |
| “I couldn’t help him because I was in the same position as him, which was fighting for his life. I’ll never forget the look on his face.” | “I couldn’t help him because I was in the same position as him, which was fighting for his life. I’ll never forget the look on his face.” |
| Asked by Christina Lambert QC, for the coroner, Sir John Goldring, about his impressions of Church at that time, Thomas said: “He was frightened. He was very, very scared. He looked in fear of his life, absolutely petrified.” When he made the cry for help, Thomas said: “He was screaming, shouting, because he couldn’t breathe.” | Asked by Christina Lambert QC, for the coroner, Sir John Goldring, about his impressions of Church at that time, Thomas said: “He was frightened. He was very, very scared. He looked in fear of his life, absolutely petrified.” When he made the cry for help, Thomas said: “He was screaming, shouting, because he couldn’t breathe.” |
| Asked if he would have helped Church, whom Thomas said would have been within touching distance if he could have moved his arms, he said: “If I could have helped him I would have done. I would have done anything for him. I would have saved him if I could have done.” | |
| Another friend, Jason Kenworthy, pointed himself out on BBC footage crouched on top of a crush barrier before the disaster happened, knocking a beachball about in the crowd. When one powerful surge happened, around the time of the kick-off, Kenworthy said he quickly got out through a gate in the pen’s perimeter fence at the front. He spent 20 minutes looking for Devonside, and finally found him laid on the pitch. The film showed police officers bent over Devonside, then Kenworthy and six other people taking his body up the pitch, on an advertising hoarding being used as a makeshift stretcher. | Another friend, Jason Kenworthy, pointed himself out on BBC footage crouched on top of a crush barrier before the disaster happened, knocking a beachball about in the crowd. When one powerful surge happened, around the time of the kick-off, Kenworthy said he quickly got out through a gate in the pen’s perimeter fence at the front. He spent 20 minutes looking for Devonside, and finally found him laid on the pitch. The film showed police officers bent over Devonside, then Kenworthy and six other people taking his body up the pitch, on an advertising hoarding being used as a makeshift stretcher. |
| A doctor, Matthew Bull, who was at the match as a spectator, told the court that he went to the Leppings Lane end of the pitch when he realised there were problems, and he made quick assessments of Devonside, Church, and another of the 96 who died, Peter Burkett, who was 24. Bull said he had no specific recollection of around 10 people he examined and tried to revive; he believed resuscitation of one had been successful, but has never heard any details about that person. None of the others survived, he said. | A doctor, Matthew Bull, who was at the match as a spectator, told the court that he went to the Leppings Lane end of the pitch when he realised there were problems, and he made quick assessments of Devonside, Church, and another of the 96 who died, Peter Burkett, who was 24. Bull said he had no specific recollection of around 10 people he examined and tried to revive; he believed resuscitation of one had been successful, but has never heard any details about that person. None of the others survived, he said. |
| Taken through the BBC footage of his efforts by Pete Weatherby QC, for the Devonside and Church families and some of Burkett’s relatives, Bull accepted that he did not appear to examine Burkett before moving away from him, that his examination of Devonside was quick at around 11 seconds, and his resuscitation efforts of Church, of around three minutes, were short. | Taken through the BBC footage of his efforts by Pete Weatherby QC, for the Devonside and Church families and some of Burkett’s relatives, Bull accepted that he did not appear to examine Burkett before moving away from him, that his examination of Devonside was quick at around 11 seconds, and his resuscitation efforts of Church, of around three minutes, were short. |
| Bull said he believed he would have had no doubts that the three young men were dead, before he moved on to other people he could help, but he described the situation on the pitch as “confused” and “haphazard”. | Bull said he believed he would have had no doubts that the three young men were dead, before he moved on to other people he could help, but he described the situation on the pitch as “confused” and “haphazard”. |
| The inquests continue. | The inquests continue. |