Hillsborough inquests: PC 'virtually bled' as he tried to save fan

Inger Shah, 38, was standing at the front of the terrace when she was fatally injured at Hillsborough

A police officer's hands "virtually bled" as he tried to tear down a fence at Hillsborough to rescue a woman who died in front of him, a jury has heard.

PC Steven Maddock, who was on duty at the stadium in Sheffield, told the new inquests into the 15 April 1989 tragedy that the fence "would not give way".

He described Inger Shah "slowly turning blue" in the terrace crush before she "shuddered" and, in his view, died.

Ms Shah, 38, was one of 96 people fatally hurt at the FA Cup semi-final.

The inquests heard: "She was that close to the fence, I managed to blow into her mouth and nose."

'Forlorn hope'

PC Maddock said he "was tapping her on her face and blowing and saying, 'Come on, come on', you know, kind of, 'Keep going'".

"My fingers were virtually bleeding through pulling at the wire mesh, but it was just a forlorn hope." he added.

The jury also heard about the final moments of another Liverpool fan, Stuart Thompson, 17, from Formby.

Mr Thompson's brother, Martin, survived after swapping his Leppings Lane ticket for the North Stand.

The inquests heard Stuart Thompson had been singing and was sitting on a barrier before the kick-off.

Stuart Thompson, 17, attended the match with his older brother Martin and two friends

Stuart's friend Anthony Grier told the hearing in Warrington they were in pen three at the Leppings Lane end.

Mr Grier said: "He said: 'I'm getting under' and I said 'don't' because the common practice was you get the barrier behind you and you don't get the surge of the crowd when everyone tries to lean forward to see the pitch."

Matthew Hill, counsel for the inquests, asked: "Did Stuart listen to you?"

Mr Grier replied: "No, he went underneath."

As the match kicked off, because of the pressure of the crowd in the pen, Mr Grier couldn't move and said it was "as if the crowd was set in concrete."

PC Eamonn Larkin told the inquests he took Stuart out of the pen and gave him chest compressions.

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He carried out CPR for about 22 minutes with a brief hiatus as he checked for vital signs of life. He said Stuart had vomited which he had taken as "a sign of life".

PC Larkin said prior to this he was "knocked unconscious" when a fan fell on him from the top of the fence. He regained consciousness on the pitch in the recovery position.

Another officer, PC Brian Walton from Nottinghamshire Police, recalled performing CPR on someone he believed to be Stuart and said: "I couldn't see any rise or fall of the chest or any breath on my face."

He said a doctor also helped "for what appeared to be some considerable time" before the doctor told him to stop as "he was apparently dead."

The inquests, sitting in Warrington, Cheshire, continue.