An individual who left over 130 people injured after driving his vehicle into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their Premier League victory has been handed a prison sentence exceeding 20 years.
On May 26, Paul Doyle drove his minivan into a throng of jubilant fans, eventually stopping only when a bystander intervened and shifted the vehicle into park, leaving it stationary atop several people.
“The video evidence is utterly disturbing,” remarked Judge Andrew Menary at the Liverpool Crown Court.
“Describing the devastation you caused in words alone is nearly impossible. The footage clearly shows you repeatedly accelerating toward groups of fans,” he continued.
During the two-day sentencing hearing, Doyle, aged 54, broke down in tears as the prosecution presented the case, featuring graphic video clips and poignant statements from numerous victims.
Last month, Doyle admitted to 31 charges, ranging from dangerous driving to multiple counts of attempted or actual grievous bodily harm and intentional wounding.
Prosecutors said Doyle used his vehicle as a weapon to ram through the sea of people walking toward him following the victory parade.
People who scrambled for safety said they feared a terror attack was unfolding.
But the explanation was “as simple as the consequences were awful,” prosecutor Paul Greaney said. Doyle flew into a fury because he couldn’t get where he was going fast enough to pick up a family friend who had attended the parade.
“He was a man in a rage, whose anger had completely taken hold of him,” Greaney said.
The judge dismissed Doyle’s explanation of having panicked as “demonstrably untrue.”
When Doyle was placed in a police van, he said: “I’ve just ruined my family’s life,” Greaney said.
The impact was far broader.
A prosecutor spent hours reading out the statements of victims, some still nursing injuries.
A 16-year-old boy kept awake by nightmares lost his apprenticeship as a woodworker because he couldn’t concentrate. A 23-year-old man had to learn how to walk again. A woman not from the area said the Liverpool accent now triggers anxiety. A woman whose daughter was a die-hard Liverpool fan could no longer watch its matches.
“The sight of red shirts and the sounds of chants are unbearable reminders of that day,” Susan Farrell said.
