A former Royal Marine was a “man in a rage” as he mowed down dozens of Liverpool football club fans at a victory parade in what many feared was a terrorist attack, a court has heard.
Victims of Paul Doyle wept as dashcam footage showed bodies spinning through the air as he accelerated into crowds while screaming: “Fucking hell, move!”
Doyle, 54, is due to be sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty on the first day of his trial last month to 31 offences against 21 adults and eight children.
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, warned those in Liverpool crown court on Monday that the footage from Doyle’s Ford Galaxy was “truly shocking”. It showed the father of three shouting “fucking pricks” and “fucking move” as he drove towards hundreds of fans, some pulling children out of the way as he blasted the vehicle’s horn.
Doyle injured 134 people, including more than 50 who needed hospital treatment, in his “sickening” seven-minute rampage on 26 May, the court was told.
Footage from a police body-worn camera showed four victims – including a 77-year-old woman and a bleeding 11-year-old boy – being rescued from beneath the two-tonne vehicle as an officer shouted: “Oh my god, oh my god!”
Greaney said Doyle was a “man in a rage whose anger had completely taken hold of him” as he ploughed further into the crowd, accelerating as people collided with his car.
A six-month-old boy, Teddy Eveson, was “extraordinarily” uninjured despite being left lying on the road when Doyle’s car hit his pushchair, Greaney said.
Gasps were heard in court when the footage showed the infant on the floor.
His mother, Sheree Aldridge, said in a statement read to court that she felt “disfigured” and “robbed of the memories” of maternity leave.
Aldridge suffered a “de-gloving” injury to her right thigh, where the skin and soft tissue was torn away and for which she is still receiving treatment. “Teddy will never be the same again; I will never be the same again. I am scarred for life,” she said.
The oldest victim, a 77-year-old woman, suffered multiple fractures after being trapped under the car with an 11-year-old boy and two others.
Doyle, from Croxteth in Liverpool, held his head in his hands and sobbed in the dock throughout the first day of sentencing.
Greaney said about 1 million people had attended “what they thought would be a day of joyfulness” but that it turned to “horror” when Doyle drove into fans as he attempted to pick up a friend from the parade.
“Some at the scene thought that what was taking place was a terrorist attack,” said Greaney.
The defendant could be heard shouting “fuck’s sake move! Get out my fucking way!” before ploughing into screaming supporters. A police officer described the noise as “sickening”.
As bodies lay on the ground, Doyle’s rampage was brought to a halt by a former soldier, Dan Barr, who climbed into a rear passenger seat and held the car’s gear selector in “park”. Even then Doyle kept his foot on the accelerator, the court heard.
When Doyle was dragged into a police van through a swarm of angry football fans, he told officers: “I’ve just ruined my family’s life.”
The defendant bowed his head and wept as the court heard of the serious psychological, physical and financial difficulties suffered by the victims. Many were “haunted” by that day, suffering sleepless nights, flashbacks, panic attacks and a fear of crowded spaces.
One woman, Anna Bilonozhenko, had fled the war in Ukraine only to be attacked in Liverpool when Doyle drove into her, fracturing her knee.
In a statement read to court, the 43-year-old described how she had taken her 22-year-old daughter for a day out in the city but now lived in constant pain. “We came to this country because of the war in our homeland, hoping to finally feel safe,” Bilonozhenko said. “At first, we did. But now that feeling has been taken away. Realising that is deeply painful. It feels like losing our safety all over again.”
A 13-year-old boy, who cannot be named, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and sustained injuries that forced him to miss months of sport.
In his police interview, the defendant claimed he acted in a “blind panic” because he feared for his life. However, Greaney said the dashcam footage demonstrated that Doyle “just lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to”.
Doyle is understood to be facing a jail term of more than 10 years when he is sentenced on Tuesday.
