Hillsborough inquest: witnesses describe teenage sisters' final moments
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Version 0 of 1. Two sisters who held on to each other before dying in the Hillsborough disaster had cried for help before disappearing from sight, an inquest has heard. Sarah Hicks, 19, and her younger sister, Victoria, 15, had been standing in the central pens behind the goal on the Leppings Lane terrace as the match began after being separated from their father, Trevor. Witnesses said that the sisters, who “seemed to be the only females in the area”, had moved nearer to the front of the pen “to get out of the surges” as the crush built up, but that Vicki’s condition soon deteriorated and she vomited. Related: Hillsborough inquest: ex-police chief denies attending 'cover-up' meeting Jeffrey Rex, a spectator, said he had seen the pair in front of him and that Victoria – referred to as Vicki in the inquest – had her head tilted to the side and was “in a bad way” as her sister tried to support her. He said that the crowd began shouting to the police to get them out but seemed to go unheard. “It went beyond anything I had ever experienced before,” he said. “In instinct I thought: ‘This was something different, our lives are being threatened.’” Paul Hand, a witness, said the sisters had declined help despite looking “very distressed”, adding: “The final surge, they just went.” The Liverpool season-ticket holders, together with their parents, had travelled from their home in Middlesex for the match in Sheffield, the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest in April 1989. The inquest continues. |