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Among the witnesses who gave evidence about the horrendous events at Hillsborough on April 15, 1989, were some who went beyond the call of duty to help the injured and dying.

The court heard of fans, volunteers and off-duty medics who sprung into action after the crush in pens three and four of the Leppings Lane terrace

Here we look back at just a few of the heroes of the day.

Dr Glyn Phillips

Off-duty GP Dr Glyn Phillips had been in pen three with his brother and two friends when the disaster happened.

When the match was stopped he climbed into pen two and tried to jump over the fence, banging his head on the crossbar.

Despite bleeding from his head due to the injury, he moved onto the pitch and went to the aid of Gary Currie - an 18-year-old Liverpool fan.

Unable to find a pulse or detect any breathing, Dr Phillips and a nurse began to perform CPR on Gary and, after 10 to 15 minutes, Gary’s pulse returned.

He continued to give mouth-to-mouth to Gary as he carried him to an ambulance and, he told the inquests, eventually Gary started breathing on his own.

Dr Phillips then went to help others on the pitch and it was only a year and a week after the disaster that he found out Gary had survived.

Commenting on Dr Phillips’ treatment of Gary, intensive care expert Dr Jasmeet Soar told the inquests: “He had a very early effective intervention by someone who clearly knew how to assess and do CPR relatively early on.”

Frederick Eccleston

Wirral Health Authority senior nursing manager Frederick Eccleston, who told the court he had been a Liverpool FC supporter since 1946, was sitting in the north-west terrace of the ground but went onto the pitch when he realised something was wrong in the Leppings Lane pens.

He told the court he had pulled people through the gate in the pitch perimeter fence.

He said: “We grabbed whatever we could - arms, legs, pieces of clothing, hair - trying to pull them through.”

The court heard he provided assistance to a number of injured fans and tried to resuscitate one supporter.

He described asking a St John Ambulance volunteer for dressings to clear vomit from the man’s mouth, but the only equipment he could give him was a dry sponge.

He said he thought he lost the battle for the man’s life.

He added: “With the proper equipment, maybe that might not have been the case.”

Andrew Lawson

Part-time ambulance driver Andrew Lawson was working in his second job - at a restaurant in the South Stand of the stadium - on the day of the disaster.

He went to the Leppings Lane end after seeing fans climbing out of the pens and helped St John Ambulance volunteers to give CPR to a teenage boy.

He said the boy looked blue and did not appear to be breathing when he first saw him but after about a minute and a half of treatment a police officer said he found a pulse.

At 3.31pm, after helping more casualties, he went to phone ambulance control to tell them there was a major incident.

He told the court: “We needed more people. We needed a lot more people. I just wanted to make sure that they knew what was happening.”

He later took a casualty to an ambulance and accompanied walking wounded to hospital.

After the disaster he expressed his concerns about the emergency response to station officer Doug Marshall, but Mr Lawson left South Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service a short time later.

He told the inquests: “It was made to be known, I shouldn’t have been there on the day, I shouldn’t have got involved, I should have stayed well away.”

Steven McPherson Allen

Liverpool supporter and off-duty Met Police officer Steven McPherson Allen was in the pens during the crush.

He described shouting at South Yorkshire Police officers to let people out and even showed his warrant card in the hope they would respond to his pleas.

When the match was stopped he helped to lift a semi-conscious fan towards the fence and then started to pull people from piles of casualties at the front of the terrace.

Footage showed five people who Mr Allen helped to pull out from underneath bodies or gave CPR to, including a woman he carried to safety.

He said: “I was trying to move people out of the pile who were still alive and maybe create space for people to come in through the gates.”

He then went onto the pitch to help but was pulled from behind by a senior police officer.

He said: “I explained I was a police officer and I was trying to help and without being too crude, he basically told me to f*** off.”

When Mr Allen gave evidence in October 2014 Mark George QC, representing 22 of the families, said Dave Church, whose 19-year-old son Gary died on the day, wanted to pass on his thanks to Mr Allen for what he did.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Church, Mr George added: “I doubt if I’m the only one who feels that way.”

Philip Saxton

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St John Ambulance volunteer Philip Saxton was the first person to go into the pens to respond to the emergency.

Mr Saxton, whose father was also on duty for the St John Ambulance on the day, initially tried to help fans through the fence.

He cleared the airway of 67-year-old Gerard Baron through the mesh fencing and removed his false teeth.

At 3.12pm video footage showed him climbing into the pens.

He told the inquests: “I thought, ‘if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it now, because the longer you wait here, the worse it’s going to be for them. You need to get in there now, you know what you can do’.”

He said he tried to resuscitate a number of men in the pens but when he turned to look back to the pitch saw piles of casualties at the front of the terrace.

He told the court he began to check people among the pile for signs of life.

He said: “It seemed an eternity before I found anybody.”

After he finished his evidence, coroner Sir John Goldring said: “Thank you very much indeed, Mr Saxton. Nobody could have done more.”

Stuart Gray

Mr Gray, the general manager of Kidderminster and District Health Authority, was a Liverpool fan who was in pen four on the day of the disaster.

He passed out during the crush and when he came round he was at the back of the West Stand.

When he came to, he saw 18-year-old John McBrien lying at his feet.

Despite having only just regained consciousness himself, Mr Gray cleared John’s airway and began to give him mouth-to-mouth.

Mr Gray said: “I was aware of the fact that I was probably fighting a lost cause.

“But the point was that he was there and I was just trying to do what I knew was the best thing I could do to see if I could get him breathing again.”

He was joined by a male nurse and began giving chest compressions.

After seeing no signs of life in John, Mr Gray went to help others.

Dr Colin Flenley

Off-duty GP Dr Colin Flenley was at the match as a Liverpool fan.

During the inquests he gave evidence about trying to save 21-year-old Paul Brady, Sarah Hicks, 19, and Tony Bland - who was 18 at the time of the disaster but died four years later.

The court heard he and Trevor Hicks, Sarah’s dad, performed CPR on the teenager before Mr Hicks accompanied his younger daughter, 15-year-old Vicki, in an ambulance.

Dr Flenley, who said treatment on Sarah stopped after about 10 minutes with no response, wrote to Mr Hicks and the girls’ mum, Jenni, after the tragedy.

He told the inquests: “Trevor was concerned that he didn’t want to leave one of his daughters on the pitch.

“Victoria had gone off in the ambulance and I said to him, “Look, I’m a doctor. I will stay with Sarah”.

“I just wanted to let him know afterwards that she wasn’t left alone.”

Dr Flenley was also shown on footage performing CPR on Tony Bland with police officer Steven Plows.

Medical expert Professor Jerry Nolan told the inquests he believed the treatment restarted Tony’s heart.

Anthony Shaw

The inquests heard ambulanceman Anthony Shaw had treated Andrew Devine - who was seriously injured in the disaster but survived.

He said he had parked his ambulance at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium and a policeman brought Mr Devine to him, who was blue but had a pulse.

He asked Mr Devine’s friend to start mouth-to-mouth while he got resuscitation equipment and then loaded Mr Devine into the ambulance, where he continued treatment.

During the journey to hospital Mr Devine started breathing again.

Pete Weatherby QC, representing 22 of the families, told Mr Shaw: “By your prompt action, as soon as you were aware of the seriousness of Mr Devine’s injuries, you effectively saved his life.

“Would you agree with that?”

Mr Shaw replied: “I would like to think so, yes”

Alison Schofield

PC Alison Schofield was on duty on the day of the disaster.

She and her colleague Neil Kirby resuscitated a 12-year-old boy who was unconscious on the pitch.

She then helped to carry him across the pitch and sat with him by the gymnasium, where a doctor put a priority sticker on the boy’s back and he was taken in an ambulance.

Mrs Schofield said when new information about the disaster was released she looked through the reports of all the inquests and was able to establish that the boy she had treated had survived.

Stephen Simblet, representing some of the families, told her: “Some of the families that I represent have asked me to say to you that they are grateful for the efforts that you made and they wish there had been more like you when it came to those efforts, and that you prevented perhaps a 97th family being in the position that they are in.”

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Portraits of the 96 Liverpool fans lost at Hillsborough

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