Hillsborough inquests: Fan battled to save John McBrien

John McBrien was one of 96 football fans fatally injured in a terrace crush at Hillsborough

A Liverpool fan who lost consciousness in the crush at Hillsborough told the inquests he "came to" and began trying to save a teenager lying next to him.

The new inquests heard Stuart Gray gave John McBrien, of Holywell, Flintshire, heart massage and chest compressions.

But the health worker said the 18-year-old was in a "desperate state" and he was "fighting a lost cause".

Ninety-six fans were fatally injured in a terrace crush at the FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield on 15 April 1989.

The crush happened on the Leppings Lane terraces occupied by Liverpool fans

Mr Gray, who was the general manager of Kidderminster district health authority and had some first aid training, told the jury he remembers the disaster at the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest match "as vividly today" as he did 26 years ago.

He reassured Mr McBrien's family he did not leave the A-Level student's side.

"John was lying at my feet. I was sitting up myself, I don't know how I got there. When I came to he was lying at my feet, lying on his back," he said.

"I was aware of the fact that it was probably fighting a lost cause, but the point was that he was there and I was just trying to do what I knew was the best thing I could do to see if I could get him breathing again."

He said Mr McBrien was "in a desperate state" but added: "I thought that if I got some air into his lungs and I could at get his heart going again, there was at least a chance he may have survived.

"So I just kept going, giving him heart massage and compressing his chest for maybe about five minutes."

Mr McBrien had a place to study at Liverpool University and his mother, Joan Hope, described him as a "kind, generous and charismatic" son who "excelled academically".

The inquests, in Warrington, Cheshire, continue.

Who were the 96 victims?