Hillsborough doc: Confirming deaths was 'awful experience'

Barry Bennett was among the Liverpool fans who died in the Hillsborough disaster

A doctor who was asked to confirm the deaths of 16 of the 96 Hillsborough victims said it was "one of the most awful experiences" of his life.

Andrew Byrne, an anaesthetist who attended the 1989 FA Cup semi-final as a spectator, first went on to the pitch to give CPR to an unconscious fan.

A police officer then asked him to go to the stadium's gymnasium, which was being used as a temporary mortuary.

The new inquests also heard about 26-year-old Barry Bennett's final moments.

Dr Byrne, a consultant anaesthetist who was based at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, had been watching the match with Nottingham Forest supporters in the south stand at the Sheffield ground.

When the match was halted six minutes after the 15:00 BST kick-off because of a terrace crush at the other end of the ground, Dr Byrne went on to the pitch to offer assistance.

The court heard footage showed him crossing the pitch at about 15:40 BST.

Ninety-six Liverpool fans died after arriving to watch an FA Cup semi-final match at Hillsborough

The senior medic, who became emotional while giving part of his evidence, recalled how, on his way into the temporary mortuary, he stopped in a "long corridor" to help a man who was lying on his back struggling to breathe.

It appeared as if the man was swallowing his tongue, Dr Byrne told the jury.

He said he then pulled the man's jaw forward, successfully restarting his breathing.

After this, Dr Byrne was taken into the gym and asked to confirm that 16 casualties had died.

He said all 16 were dead and that he did not think their faces had been covered.

Dr Byrne told the court: "I will be honest with you, I wanted to get out as quickly as I could.

"It was one of the most awful experiences of my life."

Dr Byrne was working in the gym between 16:00 and 16:15 BST but said he had "no idea of time. Time stood still".

Who were the 96 victims?

BBC News: Profiles of all those who died

The jury was also told about how Liverpool fan Barry Bennett, a tugboat worker described as "loyal and loving to his family and friends", got caught up in the fatal terrace crush at the Leppings Lane end.

He travelled to Sheffield in a car with a group of friends.

One of them, Kevin Carroll, described being separated from Mr Bennett outside the turnstiles and then going into the ground through an opened exit gate.

A complete match ticket was later found among Mr Bennett's possessions.

The jury saw a picture of him in distress inside pen three on the terraces. The image was taken between 15:06 and 15:08.

Mr Bennett was taken off the terraces and moved to the opposite end of the pitch, but it remains unclear how that happened.

He was seen in pictures timed at about 15:32, receiving CPR.

Among those who tried to revive him was off-duty ambulance officer Andrew Turner, a Nottingham Forest fan at the game.

He was seen with Mr Bennett in one photograph timed at 15:32 and in another taken 10 minutes later.

'Tried to help'

Mr Turner said: "After a while of our resuscitating it didn't look like we were going to get any further with him."

Glyn Phillips, a practising GP and Liverpool fan who had escaped from pen three, also tried to help.

He said someone who appeared to be close to Mr Bennett was "beside himself with grief".

After working on Mr Bennett for "a matter of a few minutes at most", he said he remarked to a woman who was helping: "He has gone".

Mr Bennett was eventually taken to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, where a doctor confirmed his death.

Ian Johnston, another friend who had travelled with Mr Bennett to the match, identified his body in the stadium's gymnasium early the following morning.

The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, are due to resume on 15 June.