Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it -Charles R. Swindoll

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Hillsborough Inquests: Andrew Sefton called out to school friend during crush

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One of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster asked a school friend "when's it going to stop?" as they were pinned against a crush barrier on the terraces, the new inquests have heard.
John Hughes said Andrew Sefton, 23, turned a "reddy-bluey colour" and seemed to be not getting enough oxygen.
The barrier eventually collapsed under the weight of the crowd.
The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, have also heard about the final movements of Keith McGrath, 17.
The two football fans were among the 96 fatally injured at the Liverpool versus Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final on 15 April 1989.
Mr Sefton, a security guard who had recently got engaged, drove to the Sheffield stadium with four friends.
He went into pen three - one of the fenced standing enclosures at the Leppings Lane end.
He and Mr Hughes, who had been in the same class at school but had not seen each other for "quite a while", eventually became crushed against the barrier due to the movement of the crowd, the court heard.

"We ended up sort of on the barrier together and said 'hello'. It was quite a strange place to meet someone," Mr Hughes said.
He added that Mr Sefton had asked him: "When's it going to stop?"
In his 1989 statement, Mr Hughes recalled how Mr Sefton swore as they were pushed against the barrier.
"He was very much distressed. He wouldn't have been saying anything like that otherwise," Mr Hughes told the court.
"He was starting to become discoloured. I got the impression that he wasn't getting enough oxygen inside his body.
"He was going a sort of reddy-bluey colour."
When the barrier eventually collapsed, Mr Hughes said in his statement: "My legs went underneath the barrier. We hit the floor.
"I was doubled up on the floor, again with the barrier on top of my stomach."
Mr Hughes added that he had his face "down into the corner of a step" and the court heard a "small space" in the corner of the step allowed him to breathe.
The jury saw how Mr Sefton was carried out of the pen at around 15:27 BST, about 20 minutes after the match was halted.
A group of fans were seen in photographs carrying Mr Sefton to the opposite end of the pitch where an attempt was made to resuscitate him.
Patrick Shannon, who had been at the match as a supporter, said when they set off with the makeshift stretcher he believed Mr Sefton was still breathing, but accepted this was an "assumption".
In his statement, Mr Shannon - who had first aid experience - said: "Looking back now, the man was obviously dead while we were trying to revive him."
A doctor assessed Mr Sefton in the stadium's gymnasium and confirmed his death at 15:50.

The jury then heard how Keith McGrath caught a coach from Liverpool to Sheffield to watch the match.
He was seen, in footage timed between 14:40 and 14:51, smiling as he stood on the pen three terraces.
As the Liverpool team news was announced the teenager cheered and punched the air.
There are no witnesses, however, who saw what happened to him on the terraces before or during the crush, the court was told.
He was passed through a gate out of the pen at 15:24 and three police officers carried him on to the pitch.
One of them, PC Phillip Wyer, said they tried to resuscitate Mr McGrath "for a matter of minutes" but he showed "no signs of life".
At 15:32 Mr McGrath was carried away from the Leppings Lane end on a makeshift stretcher. A doctor assessed him in the gymnasium and at 16:06 confirmed his death.
His uncle, Ronald McGrath, identified his body at 04:30 the following morning.
The inquests are scheduled to resume on Wednesday.

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