Hillsborough inquests: PC took 'no notice' of screams for help

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-32958023

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The father of a victim of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster said a PC seemed to take "no notice" of screams for aid.

Adam Spearritt, 14, was one of 96 Liverpool fans who died after a crush at the FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's ground.

The new inquests heard his father Edward, who has since died, wrote in a statement that he started "to bang on the fencing" to get a PC's attention.

But Mr Spearritt said he "just looked at me and seemed to take no notice".

He tried to lift his son out of the pen but was "unable to get a grip of him" due to the pressure of the crush, he recalled.

Adam was eventually taken to hospital where he later died.

But jurors heard his family was initially told he had survived after his name was included on a list of those reported missing but found safe.

'Something was wrong'

The inquest was shown CCTV footage of Mr Spearritt and Adam entering Hillsborough at 14:48 BST shortly before the semi-final started on 15 April 1989.

In his statement, Mr Spearritt said he became aware of an "immense amount of pressure building up" behind him in the crowd and "instinctively... knew that something was wrong".

"I was unable to turn around to see what was happening. Adam was in front of me and was getting crushed."

After trying to lift his son out, Mr Spearritt lost consciousness on the terrace and was in hospital until 18 April.

Matthew Fenwick, a police constable on duty at the match, climbed into the pen and helped carry Adam out just after 15:15.

Mr Fenwick said the boy "seemed to go more limp" as he was passed over the fence.

The jury heard that, in his 1989 statement, Mr Fenwick said that "the life seemed to ebb away from his body".

Former PC Fiona Nicol added she could find no signs of Adam's pulse or breathing.

She said she gave Adam cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for about 10 minutes, helped by two other people. She eventually stopped when someone told her he was dead but she "didn't want to leave him".

Officers then carried Adam to the Nottingham Forest end of the pitch, jurors heard.

Volunteer police officer David Pearson, who had no formal first aid training, said Adam showed no signs of life when he first saw him laid on the pitch.

However, after giving him chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he said he "intermittently detected a faint pulse in his neck".

'Chance of saving'

He said the pulse would fade after compressions were stopped, but an unidentified doctor who was working with him could also detect it.

Mr Pearson then helped take Adam into a courtyard where ambulance officers took over the resuscitation.

Trevor Dale, a divisional superintendent at South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, said Adam showed "no signs of life" when he was with him, but he thought there might have been a "chance of saving him".

Who were the 96 victims?

BBC News: Profiles of all those who died

Adam was taken to Sheffield's Northern General Hospital at about 15:50.

On arrival, the jury heard, he was not breathing and did not have a pulse but doctors re-started his heart using cardiac massage and adrenaline injected into his heart.

However, his heart rate slowed and a doctor certified he had died at 16:50, the court was told.

The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, resume on Wednesday.