Father tells of ‘worst moment’ at disaster

told the court he saw a policeman “pounding the chest” of a Liverpool supporter on the pitch and spoke to a man beside him with a transistor radio.

Reliving the moment the man said two people had died, he said: “I became literally, from head to foot, frozen in fear for Chris. I know that sounds selfish because I was thinking about him but I think any parent would have been in the same situation.”

He described seeing fans scaling the gates of the pens and some police officers on the pitch track.

He said: “There were only a few police officers there and some of those police officers were endeavouring to help those who were in distress, those who were dying and those who were dead. I also saw police officers pushing back into pen three those who were fighting for their life to get out.”

He said he saw a cavalcade of officers come onto the pitch and form a line across the halfway line, adding they did “absolutely nothing” to help those who were injured, dying or helping remove those who were dead.

The court heard Mr Devonside later met one of his son’s friends who told him Christopher had died and been taken to the gymnasium. But, a police officer told him his son was not there and Mr Devonside spent five hours searching before returning to the gymnasium and identifying him.

Duckenfield, 74, denies the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans who died in the fatal crush. Under the law at the time, there can be no prosecution for the 96th victim, Tony Bland, due to when he died.

Former Sheffield Wednesday club secretary Graham Mackrell, 69, denies breaching a condition of the ground’s safety certificate and failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety Act.

The trial is due to continue tomorrow.