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A man was “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 two-tonne 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 horn.
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.
The footage, which will not be released because of its graphic nature, showed Doyle had struck dozens of people in barely two minutes as fans screamed around him.
In total, the former Royal Marine injured 134 people in just seven minutes – including more than 50 who needed hospital treatment. A six-month-old boy was “remarkably” uninjured despite being left splayed on the road when Doyle’s car hit his pram, Greaney said.
One fan, Simon Nash, was shown being thrown into the air by the vehicle, sustaining a laceration to the back of his head, rib fractures and multiple abrasions.
The defendant could be heard shouting “fuck’s sake move! Get out my fucking way!” before ploughing further into screaming supporters, including an elderly woman and children who were dragged under the car.
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 as the video was played.
Addressing a packed courtroom, Greaney said about 1 million people had attended “what they thought would be a day of joyfulness” to celebrate Liverpool winning their 20th league title on 26 May. Scenes of jubilation turned to “horror”, the prosecutor said, as Doyle drove into oncoming fans as he attempted to pick up a friend who had been at the parade.
“Some at the scene thought that what was taking place was a terrorist attack,” said Greaney.
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.
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”. The prosecutor added: “In a rage, he drove into the crowd and as he did so he intended to cause them serious harm.”
The video showed Doyle had been driving dangerously before he reached the city centre, undertaking cars at speed and jumping red lights. He ignored traffic diversion measures and bypassed other vehicles, including an ambulance and police cars, as he entered the crowds.
Doyle is understood to be facing a jail term of more than 10 years when he is sentenced on Tuesday.
