Hillsborough: Trevor Hicks tells inquest how he tried to revive daughters

ITV News North of England correspondent Damon Green reports from the Hillsborough Inquest

The father of two teenage sisters who died in the Hillsborough disaster has begun his own evidence before a coroner, telling of his desperate efforts to revive his two daughters as they lay on the pitch.

Trevor Hicks, travelled to the match with Vicki and Sarah in April 1989, but was separated from them before they entered Pen 3 on the Leppings Lane terrace.

Today he described the moment he first saw Vicki being carried out of the crush.

He told the court: "I had a good view of the pen, it was clear that there were extreme circumstances

"I knew roughly where [Vicki and Sarah] were; you could see there were people in extreme distress."

Mr Hicks said he had been having a shouted conversation with a police officer in the control box near where he was standing.

"The attitude with the police officer wasn't going anywhere. I made my way towards the pitch.

"I saw Vicki passed over the fence."

"There are some things that stick in my mind absolutely rock solid. I saw Vicki come over the fence"

He described finding his two daughters lying on the pitch at about 26 minutes past three and went to Sarah first as she was lying nearer to him. He and other men started to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

"I spent most of my time on Victoria, but it was a case of swapping around with the two girls, who was doing mouth to mouth and who was doing heart compressions."

Questioned by counsel for the coroner, Christina Lambert QC, he said he shouted the girls' names in an attempt to revive them.

Mr Hicks said he discovered that Vicki's airway was not clear when he found her, and he had to remove vomit from his daughter's mouth before attempting resuscitation.

He told the court that he had received first-aid training as part of his work, but had never performed it.

"I could see her chest rising when I was blowing, so the air was going in."

The jury was shown video footage of himself on the pitch, as part of a group trying to help the injured and dying.

"I consider myself an amateur, and if it seemed somebody was doing a better job I was more than happy to let them," he said.

"It may sound a bit selfish but I wanted to get help for my girls."

Mr Hicks was asked if he could detect any sign of life in his daughters as they lay on the pitch.

He replied: "I don't know, is the honest answer. But as far as I was concerned they hadn't gone.

"I was going to do everything possible, and everybody else seemed to be doing that. If they had a chance they were going to get it."

He told the court that he could not remember checking for a pulse on either girl.