A Liverpool supporter tried to give the kiss of life to a boy on the Leppings Lane terrace at Hillsborough as they were both being crushed, a court has heard.
In a statement read to the jury, Michael Moran said: “There was a boy who looked like he was asleep even thought he was standing up. I tried to give him the kiss of life.”
96 Liverpool fans were killed as a result of the congestion. Police Match Commander David Duckenfield denies gross negligence manslaughter.
In his account Mr Moran says he thought he was going to die in the pen, but when a girl next to him became hysterical “I slapped her across the face and told her we would get out of this.”
After becoming unconscious he came to his senses to find he was lying on the pitch: “There was mayhem all around. It was like a battlefield. There was pandemonium.”
Chelsea supporter Geoffrey Moody who was also in the crush described how a boy was trampled on but “nobody could do a thing about it”.
In his statement he said: “I had just given up. I had fought for my life. I was convinced I was going to die.”
The deceased’s final movements were shown to the jury whilst some family members were in court to watch the CCTV footage.
Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham and Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram attended Preston Crown Court to offer them support.
Extracts from David Duckenfield’s testimony in 2015 to the new inquests into the 96 deaths was read out, in which he admits “probably I wasn’t the best man for the job on the day.”
Elsewhere in his answers Mr Duckenfield said: “With hindsight – I should have thought about my limited knowledge of the role of a commander in a major event that was an all-ticket sellout, when I had not been responsible, or in that responsible position, previously.”
Looking back he admitted it was a “serious mistake” to take on the role when his knowledge of the Hillsborough stadium “wasn’t an intimate knowledge, and in the short time available, it couldn’t possible be.”
Mr Duckenfield was promoted to Chief Superintendent at South Yorkshire Police on 27 March 1989. The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was scheduled for 15 April.
Despite this, Mr Duckenfield told the inquests that at the time he was confident and with the help of experienced colleagues “it did not cross my mind that the semi-final was something that I couldn’t deal with”.