THE Hillsborough inquest has heard a police officer was 'shocked' when he was told Colin Ashcroft was dead.

The Birchwood teenager was 19 when he was killed during the football ground tragedy in 1989.

Speaking at the start of the inquest, his mum Janet Russell said he had travelled to the semi-final on a Liverpool FC supporters coach as she was worried about getting to the ground due to the former Green Lane pupil's health problems including epilepsy.

The inquest, held in Birchwood Park, heard on Monday PC David Butler had carried Colin onto the pitch and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before a doctor arrived.

He added: "I had a memory of a doctor being escorted by another person, and he felt for a pulse and he quickly said, 'He's gone. Move on'.

"I think that was the first person, to my knowledge, that had been declared deceased, and I think it was a realisation that they weren't just unconscious, that people may well be dead.

"I think it was a bit of a shock."

PC Butler added Colin still felt warm and his skin colour was yellow.

The jury heard he picked the casualty up, put him on an advertising hoarding and placed him next to an ambulance outside a gymnasium.

On Tuesday the inquest heard consultant general surgeon Christopher Rigby, who was attending the game as a fan, provided care to a number of casualties on the pitch but said it was 'very difficult to make an assessment of death' under the circumstances.

The jury also heard Colin's mum heard about the disaster on the news and later identified Colin's body in Sheffield at 7pm that evening.