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A motorist responsible for injuring over 130 individuals after driving into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their Premier League victory was sentenced to more than two decades behind bars on Tuesday.
On May 26, Paul Doyle drove his minivan through a throng of supporters, only stopping when a courageous bystander entered the vehicle and shifted it into park, halting the chaotic scene atop the injured.
“The video evidence is truly disturbing,” remarked Judge Andrew Menary at the Liverpool Crown Court.
“Words alone cannot adequately describe the devastation you inflicted. The footage reveals your repeated, intentional acceleration into groups of fans,” he added.
During the two-day sentencing, Doyle was visibly upset as the prosecution presented graphic video clips and shared poignant statements from numerous victims, detailing the harrowing event.
Doyle, 54, pleaded guilty last month to 31 counts, including dangerous driving and multiple counts of attempting or causing 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.