A British man who injured more than 130 people by driving his car into a crowd of Liverpool football fans during the Premier League victory parade in May was sentenced to 21 and a half years in prison on Tuesday after admitting 31 criminal charges over the incident.
Paul Doyle drove into a crowd of fans — hitting adults and children, who jumped from his vehicle or crawled under it — simply because he lost his temper, prosecutors said.
The 54-year-old last month pleaded guilty to the charges, including nine counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and 17 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, on what would have been the first day of his trial.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney said on Monday that Doyle was "a furious man whose anger had completely taken over" when he deliberately drove his car into cheering fans, injuring 134 people, including eight children.
"It not only caused widespread injury, but also caused terror among those who had participated in what they thought would be a day of joy," Greaney said.
His lawyer, Simon Csoka, told the court: “The defendant is horrified by what he did… he is remorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry for all those who were hurt or suffered.”
Doyle sat in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as Judge Andrew Menary said: "It is almost impossible to understand how a right-thinking person could act as you did."
"To drive a vehicle into crowds of pedestrians with such insistence and disregard for human life defies common sense."
Greaney told the court on Monday that around a million people had turned out to celebrate Liverpool's 20th English league title, watching an open-top bus parade featuring the team and its staff with the Premier League trophy.
Doyle drove downtown to pick up friends who had been to the parade earlier – within 77 seconds, at nearly 6 p.m. – he crashed into the crowd while yelling, cursing and honking his horn while repeatedly hitting pedestrians.
One of Doyle's victims was Anna Bilonozhenko, who was hit by his Ford Galaxy and underwent surgery for a fractured knee after leaving Ukraine for Britain in 2024.
“We came to this country because of the war in our homeland, hoping to finally feel safe,” she said in a statement read on her behalf. “At first, yes, but now that feeling has disappeared… we feel like we are losing our safety again.”
Others who were involved in the incident described the long-term effects on themselves and their loved ones, saying they were unable to work, care for their families, be in crowded places or watch Liverpool matches.
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