'Reduce Leppings Lane End to a pile of rubble': Plea from brother of West Brom fan who died at Hillsborough at the end of inquest into the tragedy

The brother of a West Bromwich Albion fan who died in Hillsborough’s Leppings Lane stand said on Friday that he wants to see it ‘reduced to rubble’, at the conclusion of an inquest into the tragedy.

Steve Townsend, who heard South Yorkshire senior coroner Tanyka Rawden express concerns about the availability of radios for stewards on the day of his brother’s death, in September 2024, said he was convinced that the response of staff and the club’s private medical team had been inadequate.

A ‘Prevention of Future Deaths Report’ about the availability of radios will be written by the coroner, after she saw CCTV in which stewards struggling to find someone who could call in Mark’s collapse to the ground’s control room, to summon paramedic help. The same failing contributed to the Hillsborough Disaster, 36 years ago.

A radio call for assistance was made one minute and three seconds after the alarm was raised by a supporter. That call was delayed by around thirty seconds whilst a steward ran down a staircase in the stand to a group of Wednesday staff, thinking one would have a radio - but had to leave them to run for another group, a further 20 seconds away to get one.

‘Any unnecessary delay however small is just that - “unnecessary,” said the coroner. ‘Every second counts in an emergency situation.’

Mr Townsend said: ‘They've bolted the door after the horse has gone now, saying we're going do this and that. Fair enough, as long as those actions are undertaken like the training of the stewards. The coroner ruled on Friday that a failure to give oxygen to Mr Townsend after he suffered a cardiac arrest had possible contributed to his death. It would have been possible for Lambda Medical to apply a ‘bag valve mask’ to Mark Townsend in the Leppings Lane stand.

‘The absence of this is likely to have contributed to, though not directly caused, Mark’s death,’ she concluded.

Approached by Daily Mail Sport about the coroner’s finding on the use of oxygen, Lambda’s Lewis Wright, of Lambda Medical, said his actions that day had been in line with ‘Resuscitation Council guidelines’ but refused to comment further.

He was disappointed by Wright’s unwilling to accept the coroner’s finding on the failure to use oxygen. ‘I would have hoped they would want to question themselves and learn,’ he said.

There was criticism from the coroner about the time it has taken both Lambda Medical and YAS to work at improving a quality of team-working since its failure on the day of Mr Townsend’s death. ’It’s disappointing that I have had to raise the issue [and that] work is only now getting under way, over a year after Mark’s death,’ she said.

In a statement, West Bromwich Albion said they ‘noted’ the coroner’s findings. ‘The club continues to provide the Townsend family with its love and support as they grieve Mark’s loss,’ it said. ‘The club welcomes the coroner’s decision to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report and urges all associated parties to swiftly act on the concerns raised.