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Hillsborough: Last Moments Of Youngest Victim

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."

Mr Jolly confirmed that a large surge moved him closer to the perimeter fence and broke down, as he described how he can't recall the last time he saw Jon-Paul.

"I lost consciousness and then the next thing I remember is I heard somebody say: 'This one's alive'," Mr Jolly said.

The jury then heard from Philip Woodward, a police inspector at Hillsborough. He described going into pen three as people there needed help.

As he walked into the pen he saw Jon-Paul.

"There were bodies on the ground. I saw a young boy probably aged about 10, a similar age to my own son, amongst a pile of bodies," he said. "I recall seeing his face."

As the disaster unfolded Jon-Paul's uncles were trying to find him. At 3.40pm they went to a local police station and then to a gymnasium where they were told a 10-year-old had been taken to hospital.

At 10pm they returned to the gymnasium where they identified a photograph of their young nephew.