Hillsborough inquests: Cannock victim's family thank Pc for his help

An inquest yesterday heard how PC Kevin Hanson believed he had 'failed' 22-year-old David Birtle, who was one of 96 Liverpool fans crushed at the match in 1989.

Mr Hanson was one of two officers who tried to revive him after he was moved from Leppings Lane end of the stadium, staying with him into the evening.

Stephen Simblet, a barrister representing Mr Birtle's family, yesterday said to Mr Hanson "You yourself felt angry at his death and felt that you had failed him.

"One of the things that I want to make clear on behalf of his family is they don't think that you failed him.

"They're extremely grateful for the determined efforts that you made to save his life."

The jury heard how Mr Birtle was a HGV driver, who was originally born in West Bromwich, who was living with his father James Saunders in Cannock.

The court heard how Mr Saunders, who had to identify his son the morning after the tragedy, only passed away on Saturday.

Mr Birtle's mother, Jennifer, had previously told the court her son was a 'big music fan'.

She recalled how she had to hose down his clothes after he returned from the Glastonbury music festival.

He was said to have been an 'ardent' Liverpool supporter and held a season ticket for Anfield. After the disaster police found a ticket stub for the semi-final among his possessions.

On the day of the FA Cup semi-final, Mr Birtle drove to Sheffield in a car that had been given to him by his grandfather.

In footage shown to the jury and timed between 15:07pm and 15:08pm, Mr Birtle was seen towards the front of pen three, one of the enclosures behind the goal on the Leppings Lane terraces.

Steven Thompson, who was a South Yorkshire Police constable on duty that afternoon is believed to have tried to resuscitate Mr Birtle inside the pen between 15 and 20 minutes later.

Mr Thompson said that the Liverpool fan he tended to was "half way up the pen" when he found him.

He said: "I did think he was deceased. His eyes were open and there was no movement from him.

"His skin was very white and sort of waxy."

The officer gave the fan mouth to mouth until a colleague said 'you're wasting your time'.

Mr Thompson closed the fan's eyes and moved on to help others.

Mr Birtle was moved from the Leppings Lane end of the stadium to the Spion Kop end where two officers, Kevin Hanson and Andrew Brookes tried to revive him.

Stephen Simblet, a barrister representing Mr Birtle's family, said to Mr Hanson: "You yourself felt angry at his death and felt that you had failed him.

"One of the things that I want to make clear on behalf of his family is they don't think that you failed him.

"They're extremely grateful for the determined efforts that you made to save his life."

The jury heard how Mr Hanson stayed with Mr Birtle into that evening. Mr Simblet said that 'made a big difference' to his family.

The inquests, being held in Warrington, Cheshire, continue.