Hillsborough Inquests: Police officer 'unable to help' collapsed fan

Graham Wright and Paula Smith were among the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster

A police officer told a fan she "couldn't do anything" after hearing a spectator had collapsed in the crowd at Hillsborough, the inquests have heard.

David Hughes, who was caught in the crush, said a fellow Liverpool fan had been "asking for air" as she could not breathe but then "went quiet".

He said he "pleaded for help" from the officer on the other side of a fence.

It is believed the spectator was Paula Smith, 26, one of 96 fans fatally injured in the 1989 disaster.

The jury also heard about the final movements of Graham Wright, a 17-year-old insurance clerk.

'Limp'

Mr Hughes, who has since died, said in a statement that there was a "big surge from behind" him in pen three at the Leppings Lane end of the Sheffield stadium on 15 April 1989.

"All [I] could hear was the two girls behind me screaming and the sound of wind being knocked out of people behind me.

"I was then aware that there was a girl directly in front of me. She was crushed up against my stomach, all I could see of her was her head."

He said she was talking to him, "asking for air, she couldn't breathe. She only spoke briefly then she went quiet".

Mr Hughes said the girl eventually went "limp" and was "slowly slipping down to the floor".

"I began shouting to a policewoman with a ponytail stood on the other side of the fence that this girl had collapsed. She only replied that she couldn't do anything.

"I was pleading to the policewoman to help."

Later in the statement, he said had seen "pictures in the papers of girls who were killed" at Hillsborough.

"One of these was a girl named Paula from Liverpool. I am sure that this is the girl who died crushed up against my stomach," he said.

The jury also heard from Paul Wadsworth, who was a police constable on duty of the day of the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

He had spoken to Ms Smith outside the Leppings Lane end between 13:05 and 13:15, when she asked him if she was heading into the correct part of the ground.

Mr Wadsworth later went into pen three after seeing other officers running into the ground.

He saw Ms Smith lying on the terraces, her "face and hands were purple" and she was "totally lifeless", the jury heard.

He looked inside her mouth to check for signs of breathing.

Mr Wadsworth said he and another officer carried Ms Smith out of the pen and on to the pitch.

She was later carried on an advertising hoarding to the stadium's gym, where a doctor confirmed she had died.

Fatal crushing broke out at the Leppings Lane end of Hillsborough stadium on 15 April 1989

Graham Wright had been at the match with his friend James Aspinall, who also died.

Matthew Hill, representing the coroner, said Graham had been given a ticket to the match by his brother, David.

Mr Hill said another of his brothers, Stephen, "says that he advised Graham to go to the side of the Leppings Lane terraces".

Graham was seen in footage timed from 14:23 standing in the crowd in pen three, one of the central enclosures.

A police officer who helped carry the teenager to the gym said he did not perform any checks for a pulse or breathing because when he first saw Graham he was covered.

Stephen Wright had been sitting in a seat in the North Stand and looked for his brother after police stopped the match.

He could not find him and went home to Liverpool, but returned to Sheffield later that evening.

At 04:00 BST on 16 April, Stephen identified his brother's body in the gym.

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

Who were the 96 victims?

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