Hillsborough Inquests: Liverpool fan David Mather was 'taken by crowd'

David Mather was described by his family as a "typical joker" who was "bright" and hard working

A teenage Liverpool fan was "taken by the crowd" during the Hillsborough disaster, the new inquests have heard.

David Mather, a 19-year-old post office clerk from Huyton, Merseyside, attended his team's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest with friends.

They told the jury that David was pushed forward as the crowd pressure on the Leppings Lane terrace intensified.

Mr Mather was one of 96 supporters fatally injured in the crush at the Sheffield stadium on 15 April 1989.

He drove to the match with four friends - Alan Woods, Mark Garratt, Alan Benson and Peter Wilkinson - who all survived.

'As if I was floating'

They arrived at the ground at 12:30 BST, two-and-a-half hours before kick-off, and went into pen three, a fenced enclosure behind the goal at the Leppings Lane end.

The jury heard parts of a statement written by Mr Wilkinson in 1989 in which he described how the group managed to stay together until about 14:55.

Mr Wilkinson said: "Suddenly there was a steady build-up of pressure from behind that took me further forward.

"There was no release in the pressure at all. It got to such a stage that I couldn't move anything except my feet. It was as if I was floating.

"By this time people were shouting and screaming all around me. The pain was quite intense and I was having difficulty breathing.

"By this time the people in our group had all got separated. I had no idea where David Mather had gone.

"The last I saw him he was moving down towards the front but I lost sight of him and became too concerned with what was happening to myself and what was happening around me."

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

Mr Woods said in his statement that Mr Mather "looked as if he was being taken by the crowd" and he shouted 'Come back, Mather!' but received no response.

He told the jury it did not seem like his friend was in pain or discomfort, adding: "When I said 'Come back, Mather!', it would have been more to be back with us, rather than he was in any danger at all."

Mr Garratt said whenever his group went to matches together, they would try to stand in a line just in front of a crush barrier.

On the day of the disaster, though, he said "as things built up and built up, it became harder and harder to... maintain that position".

He added: "He wouldn't have chosen to go forward… because we would have tried to stay in a line, in a group."

Mr Garratt said he also called out to Mr Mather: "Where are you going?".

He said that was not because it looked like his friend was in danger but because "we all want to stand together".

'Recovery position'

The jury saw video footage of Mr Mather inside pen three between 14:46 and 14:53, showing how he was initially close to his friends and then moved further towards the front.

He was next seen in a video timed at 15:22, being carried on to the pitch and laid in the recovery position by Sgt Adrian Brazener from Nottinghamshire Police.

A St John Ambulance volunteer medic, believed to be Elaine Bunting, and Prof Timothy Cooke, a professor of surgery who was at the match, are believed to have tried to resuscitate Mr Mather on the pitch.

A doctor who assessed casualties inside the temporary mortuary after 16:00 confirmed Mr Mather's death.

The jury heard how his aunt, Patricia Cotton, travelled from her home in Manchester to Sheffield that evening and identified Mr Mather's body from Polaroid photographs taken of the dead.

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

Who were the 96 victims?

BBC News: Profiles of all those who died