Wednesday 13 May 2015

Hillsborough: Last Moments Of Youngest Victim

The last moments before Steven Gerrard's cousin was killed in the Hillsborough disaster have been recalled at the inquests into the deaths of the 96 victims.

Jon-Paul Gilhooley was just 10 when he died in the crush on 15 April 1989, the youngest victim of the disaster. He shared the same ambition as his cousin to play for Liverpool Football Club.
The inquest jury has heard that he went to the match with two of his uncles after a friend of theirs, Rod Jolly, offered them a spare ticket on the morning of the match.
When they arrived at the stadium in Sheffield, they left him in the care of Mr Jolly, who also had a ticket for the terraces at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium.
Mr Jolly told the inquests they entered the ground through an exit gate as the "police had lost control" at the turnstiles.
He recalled going into pen three with Jon-Paul in front of him as they made their way about a quarter of the way down on the right-hand side of the goal.
"When we went through the large gate, we must have been one of the first ones to go through because when we arrived on the terraces it was OK, you know, it was quite comfortable," he said.
"Did there come a point when you were concerned about the packing in the pen?" he was asked by barrister Christina Lambert QC.
"It was the actual surges, you know. That's when it started to become really uncomfortable," Mr Jolly replied.
"It started to get more and more uncomfortable and tighter and tighter and then you couldn't breathe."
"I seem to remember that I was shouting out at people that I had a child in my care," Mr Jolly said.
"He was definitely in front of me."

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