At UK Parade, He Drove Into 'Person After Person After Person'

A driver who injured more than 130 people when he plowed his car into soccer fans celebrating Liverpool's Premier League championship was sentenced on Tuesday to more than 21 years in prison. Paul Doyle rammed his minivan through a sea of fans on May 26 in two minutes of horror that ended only when a bystander got in the vehicle and forced it into park. "You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the [hood], drove over limbs, crushed [baby carriages], and forced those nearby to scatter in terror," Judge Andrew Menary told Doyle in Liverpool Crown Court, per the AP. "You plowed on ... over a considerable distance, violently knocking people aside or simply driving over them, person after person after person."

Prosecutors said Doyle flew into a fury because he couldn't get where he was going fast enough to pick up friends who'd attended the parade. Doyle, 54, sobbed during much of the two-day sentencing as prosecutors detailed the crime, using graphic video footage, and reading victim statements from dozens. Doyle pleaded guilty last month to 31 counts, including dangerous driving and multiple counts of attempting or causing grievous bodily harm and intentional wounding. Dashboard footage showed terrified people trying to scramble to safety before being knocked aside, tossed in the air, or slipping under his bumper.

Many said they feared a terror attack was unfolding. "He was a man in a rage, whose anger had completely taken hold of him," prosecutor Paul Greaney said. Doyle's dashboard footage captured him cursing at people in the street, blaring his horn, and using the F-word while screaming, "Move, move, move!" When Doyle was placed in a police van, he said, "I've just ruined my family's life," Greaney said. A prosecutor spent hours reading victim statements. A 16-year-old kept awake by nightmares lost his woodworking apprenticeship because he couldn't focus. A 23-year-old man, meanwhile, had to learn to walk again.

A woman not from the area said the Liverpool accent now triggers anxiety, while another whose daughter was a die-hard Liverpool fan says she can no longer watch its matches. Doyle told police he'd panicked as the crowd pounded on his car, shattering a window and trying to pull him from the vehicle. But the judge dismissed that as "demonstrably untrue," noting they were simply reacting to his attack. Doyle's defense lawyer said Doyle is horrified by what he did and doesn't expect sympathy.