A driver who injured more than 130 people when his car ran over a crowd of fans celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League title was sentenced this Tuesday to more than 21 years in prison.
Paul Doyle plowed into a crowd of fans with his minivan on May 26, in two minutes of terror that only ended when a pedestrian entered the vehicle and forced it to stop. The car stopped over the people.
“You hit people head-on, threw others onto the bonnet, ran over limbs, crushed prams and forced people nearby to scatter in panic,” Judge Andrew Menary told Doyle at Liverpool Crown Court. “You advanced at high speed and for a considerable distance, violently knocking people down or simply running over them, one after another.”
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Prosecutors said Doyle was furious because he couldn’t get to his destination quickly enough to pick up friends who had attended the parade.
Doyle cried through much of the two-day sentencing hearing as prosecutors detailed the crime, using graphic video footage and reading emotional statements from dozens of victims.
He pleaded guilty last month to 31 charges, including dangerous driving and multiple counts of attempting or committing grievous bodily harm and intentional bodily harm.
Car dashboard camera footage showed terrified people trying to protect themselves before being thrown to the side, thrown into the air or sliding under the bumper.
Many said they feared a terrorist attack was happening. But the explanation was “as simple as the consequences were terrible”, said prosecutor Paul Greaney. “He was an enraged man whose anger completely dominated him.”
Dashboard camera footage from Doyle’s car captured him swearing at people in the street, honking his horn incessantly and using profanity as he shouted “get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way.”
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A prosecutor spent hours reading statements from victims, some still recovering from physical injuries and others haunted by memories.
Doyle told police he panicked when the crowd hit his car, breaking a window and trying to pull him out of the vehicle. But the judge dismissed this version as “demonstrably false” as they were reacting to the attack.
