Liverpool parade driver sobs as victims recall ‘spine-chilling’ rampage
During his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Paul Doyle was told his actions had left people ‘traumatised’.
Liverpool victory parade driver Paul Doyle sobbed as more of his victims spoke of their suffering following his “spine-chilling” rampage.
The 54-year-old was told his actions have left people “traumatised”, with one woman urging him to “take responsibility” for what he had done.
Prosecutors previously told his sentencing hearing that he used a car as a “weapon” to plough through more than 100 people at Liverpool’s Premier League title celebrations after he flew into a “rage”.
Doyle spent large portions of the two-day hearing at Liverpool Crown Court in tears – with horrific dashcam and CCTV footage played multiple times to the public gallery.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Philip Astbury continued to read statements from 78 of Doyle’s victims – with one mother telling the court how a pram with her six-month-old baby inside was struck by his Ford Galaxy.
She said: “I relive the moment of the collision repeatedly, especially the terrifying image of my pram being struck and taken by the car with my six-month-old baby inside.
“The horror of not knowing whether he was alive or dead in that instant will haunt me forever.”
One of Doyle’s victims addressed him directly in her statement, saying: “Don’t sit in the dock and cry for yourself.”
Susan Farrell, 55, on behalf of herself and her 62-year-old husband Colin Farrell, said: “There are hundreds of people affected by your actions. I want you to think about them all.
“Don’t sit in the dock and cry for yourself. Be brave and take accountability for what you did.”
The “hero” who jumped into Doyle’s car and placed the vehicle into park said the experience had brought his past trauma as a soldier to the surface, and that he has since become angry and withdrawn.
Mr Barr, who was in the back seat of the car for the last 16 seconds of its movement, said in his statement that he had kept the “high pressure, traumatic and dangerous situations” from his tours of Iraq “under wraps” for years.
He continued: “But since that day it has brought everything to the surface, and I find I can no longer put a mask on and carry on as normal.
“I am angry when I go to bed. I don’t sleep very well, if at all. I wake up angry. Big things don’t bother me, but little things do. I am quick to anger and slow to hide it.”
Mr Barr added: “I generally feel no sense of purpose and don’t know what to do, and this is without having fully come to terms with what happened that day.”
In another statement, a 51-year-old grandmother spoke of the “spine-chilling” moment her grandson was struck by the vehicle.
She said: “The flashbacks are horrific, and I struggle to sleep.
“Every time I close my eyes, I am back at the scene reliving it over and over again.
“The nightmares are real, and I wake sobbing.”
Doyle previously pleaded guilty to 31 offences relating to seriously injuring people during the victory parade in May.
He is due to be sentenced later on Tuesday.
On Monday, prosecutors told how in the space of two minutes, Doyle’s Ford Galaxy – which weighed nearly two tonnes – collided with “well over 100 people” and he was “prepared to cause those in the crowd, even children, serious harm if necessary to achieve his aim of getting through”.
Doyle admitted dangerous driving, affray, 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine counts of causing GBH with intent and three counts of wounding with intent last month.
He had previously denied the offences, which relate to 29 victims aged between six months and 77 years.
Horrifying dashcam footage was displayed to the court, with the defendant heard shouting “move”, “f****** pricks” and “get out the f****** way”.
Doyle was arrested at the scene in Water Street just after 6pm and charged later that week.
The youngest victim was six-month-old Teddy Eveson, whose parents later told media he was thrown about 15 feet down the road in his pram during the crash.
Doyle, of Croxteth, Liverpool, admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to the baby.
Five other children, whom Doyle either injured or attempted to injure, cannot be named for legal reasons.
