GP screamed for help as West Brom fan died at game – but ‘nothing came’ | OneFootball

A GP has recounted how he desperately screamed for help while performing CPR on a fellow football fan who suffered a cardiac arrest during a match, but “nothing came”.

Dr Richard Stones told an inquest that he rushed to assist Mark Townsend, 57, after he collapsed among West Bromwich Albion supporters at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium on 28 September, 2024.

Drawing on 25 years of medical experience, Dr Stones immediately recognised Mr Townsend was in cardiac arrest.

He, along with off-duty paramedic Chelsea Jones, administered chest compressions in a frantic effort to save him.

However, Dr Stones described the pre-hospital care received at the ground as “among the worst” he had seen and a “shambles”.

He told Sheffield Coroner’s Court on Monday: “We are doing CPR. We are screaming out to get some help and nothing came.”

Dr Stones said he asked stewards to fetch a defibrillator. but he told the hearing: “Literally, the stewards were just looking at me.

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Dr Stones described the situation at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium as a ‘shambles’ (Getty)

“There was no communication, not even a bit of clarification – ‘what do you need, what do you want’.”

He said: “Honestly, they just looked at me.”

Dr Stones said he thought the first paramedics did not arrive for 10 minutes. They had a defibrillator but no oxygen.

He said: “I could see them walking across the pitch. There was no rush. There was no urgency.”

Dr Stones said two shocks were given to Mr Townsend from the defibrillator before its battery went flat.

He said: “It was just a shambles.”

The GP told the inquest that a decision was made to move Mr Townsend to the concourse behind the Leppings Lane stand, where he said there was “more chaos”.

He said he was about to give intravenous drugs to Mr Townsend, because nobody else seemed to be doing it, when a steward asked him to “move away”.

He said: “I was really shocked by what happened. I went back up to my seat and sat there.”

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Dr Stones said there was ‘no urgency’ when a fellow fan went into cardiac arrest at the stadium (Getty Images)

Dr Stones said it was one of the worst pre-hospital critical care scenarios that he had witnessed, adding it was “just awful”.

He told Sheffield’s senior coroner Tanyka Rawden: “I tried my best to hold things together and I was not listened to.”

Dr Stones told Mrs Rawden that he had been a West Brom supporter for 50 years and was a regular at home and away matches.

He said he was a GP with the Ministry of Defence, had experience of working in an A&E department and also as a football club doctor.

The GP said Mr Townsend was sitting about three or four seats away from him in the upper tier of the Leppings Lane stand when he became aware that something was happening.

He said Mr Townsend, who was from Birmingham, was grey and had “no signs of life” when he approached to begin CPR.

Dr Stones said the fans around him were chanting for the referee to stop the game and a couple of supporters went on to the pitch to try to halt the match.

He said: “They should have stopped the game.”

Asked whether the actions of the crowd around him did anything to contribute to the poor response he saw, Dr Stones said: “The Albion fans did nothing wrong that day.”

He said the supporters around him were “respectful and helpful”.

Mr Townsend’s wife, Marion, left the hearing while Dr Stones was shown CCTV footage of the incident.

The doctor was asked by Ian Perkins, for Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, whether he could have been mistaken about some of his recollections, given the intensity of the events around him.

Mr Perkins suggested it took about four minutes, rather than 10 minutes, for the first paramedics to arrive by Mr Townsend.

And he also suggested the paramedics the GP saw walking across the pitch were not the ones who were first on the scene.

Dr Stones, who described himself as just a “good Samaritan bystander”, said: “I wasn’t aware of everything that was going on.”

Barrister Peter Wilcock KC thanked the doctor for all his efforts, on behalf of Mr Townsend’s family.