Hillsborough inquests: Survivor 'scoured' terraces for wife

Christine Jones' husband Stephen said he 'scoured' the Hillsborough terraces trying to find her

A Hillsborough survivor whose wife died in the disaster "scoured" the terraces and was "obsessed" with finding her, a jury has been told.

Stephen Jones gave evidence as the new inquests into the 1989 tragedy focussed on the death of Christine Jones, 27.

He said he had always been "bothered" that despite being trained in first aid he did not offer to help other casualties as he searched for her.

Mrs Jones was one of 96 fans fatally injured in the Sheffield stadium crush.

The hearings into the disaster, which happened at Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989, also heard of the last movements of Peter McDonnell, 21, from Garston.

'Jammed'

Mr Jones told the court he met his "very bright" wife of four years at a Preston hospital, where they worked as radiographers.

He described how the crowd built up around him and his wife in pen three of the Leppings Lane terrace, where they were standing.

They considered moving, he said, "but could not get out."

"It felt very uncomfortable to me," Mr Jones said. "I had been in many different crowd situations following Liverpool around and to me this one seemed unnatural."

He described the pressure as "like someone tightening a steel band or a vice. It was a gradual escalation." His hands were "jammed" by his side and his feet left the ground, he told the court.

Christine was "alarmed", Mr Jones added, but he "assumed things would level out" by kick-off. But a "terrific surge" from the back of the enclosure separated the couple.

Who were the 96 victims?

BBC News: Profiles of all those who died

He asked a police officer where the casualties were being taken and was told: "wherever they've taken them they don't want the likes of you there, do they?"

He told the court he found his wife lying by the Leppings Lane goal with a jacket over her face and felt an instinct, a foreboding that she was dead.

Two PCs, Lilian Sosnowski and Philip Hooson, had helped carry her on to the pitch.

In a statement read to the court, Mrs Sosnowski said that "she was blue in the face" and did not appear to be breathing. As they tried to resuscitate her, doctors said there was "no point" in carrying on.

Mr Jones helped carry her to the stadium's gymnasium, which was being used as a temporary mortuary.

Peter McDonnell had travelled to Hillsborough with a group of friends

The jury also heard how Peter McDonnell travelled to Sheffield from Liverpool with friends.

His sister, Evelyn Mills, said he "loved to learn" and was an "outgoing and fun loving person who always had a lot of friends".

'Severely crushed'

One of his friends - Albert Atkin - had arrived in Sheffield just after 11:00 GMT and was outside Leppings Lane at 14:45 GMT.

He told the court they were "severely crushed and having problems breathing" as they moved through the crowd outside the stadium.

They had tickets for the standing terraces at Leppings Lane but ended up at the turnstiles for the seated area in the West Stand.

A turnstile operator tried to turn them back, the court heard, but they couldn't get through the crowd and climbed over the turnstile block and into the ground.

The group tried to get into the West Stand and Mr Atkin said his friend managed to get onto stairs leading into the stand without his ticket being checked, but the others were turned away.

He said: "I think he came back looking for us, to see if we could get in."

It is unclear what happened next but the jury was shown video footage of him being carried out of pen three after 15:27 GMT.

Mr McDonnell's father identified his body the following day.

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