THE HILLSBOROUGH inquest has heard evidence from a Keighley businessman who had to identify the bodies of his two daughters killed in the "chaos" and "mayhem" of the disaster.

Trevor Hicks, who runs an engineering works in the town, was on the Leppings Lane terrace when he realised fans were being crushed in pens behind the goals where his daughters, Sarah, 19, and Victoria, 15, were standing.

The Liverpool season ticket holders, with his former wife Jenni, who was sitting in another part of Sheffield Wednesday's ground, arrived at the stadium at 2pm for the FA Cup Semi-final against Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989.

Once inside, his daughters had "given him the slip" and went to stand in pens behind the goal, Mr Hicks told the Hillsborough inquest.

They were among the 96 Liverpool fans who died as a result of a crush at the Leppings Lane end of the ground.

Mr Hicks said ten minutes before the 3pm kick off, from his position on the terrace, he realised there was a serious problem of crushing.

Mr Hicks said: "I saw an old chap, because I was much younger then, grey haired like me in a grey suit. He really looked like he was dying stood up."

Mr Hicks had tried to alert an officer.

He said: "We were calling up at him and then as I reported several times, he eventually turned to me and told me to, 'shut my f*****g prattle'."

Mr Hicks said he then saw a girl with Doc Martin boots and long curly hair being passed over the fence onto the pitch - recognising his daughter Victoria.

He got onto the pitch where he described the condition as "chaos" and found both his daughters laid out side by side.

Two men were giving mouth to mouth and chest compressions to Sarah and he joined another man attempting to revive his other daughter Victoria.

Mr Hicks said it was "mayhem on the pitch" with no medical assistance or equipment save for a teenage St John's Ambulance cadet who was in a "worse state than me".

He went in an ambulance with Victoria to hospital, after being assured Sarah would be in the next ambulance.

His daughter had a "flicker of a pulse" and was taken into a cubicle at the hospital, but minutes later he was told she had died.

"As soon as I knew there was nothing I could do for Vicky my attention turned to find Sarah and what I could do for her."

With his then wife Jenni, Mr Hicks found a photo of Sarah among the dead at a makeshift mortuary and carried out an identification before being interviewed by police.

Mr Hicks said he then gave a statement to police, where he was repeatedly asked about "how much we had had to drink".