Liverpool driver sentenced to more than 21 years in prison for injuring 130 at Premier League event
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A British man who injured more than 130 people by plowing his car into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans during a Premier League victory parade in May was jailed for 21½ years on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to 31 criminal charges over the incident.
Paul Doyle drove into a crowd of fans – hitting adults and children, who rolled over or were dragged under his car – simply because he lost his temper, prosecutors said.
The suspect, 54, last month pleaded guilty to nine counts of malicious wounding and 17 counts of attempted wounding, which was to be the first day of his trial.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney said on Monday that Doyle was a “man in a rage” when he deliberately drove into cheering fans, injuring 134 people, including eight children.
“Not only did he hurt many people, but he also caused fear in those who attended that day who thought it would be a happy day,” said Greaney.
His lawyer Simon Csoka told the court: “The defendant is horrified by what he has done … he is remorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry for all those who were injured or suffered.”
Act ‘defies common sense’: judge
Doyle sat in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as Judge Andrew Menary said: “It is almost impossible to understand how any sane person could do what he did.
“Driving a car into crowds of pedestrians with a reckless disregard for human health defies common sense,” Menary said.
Greaney told the court on Monday that around a million people turned out to celebrate Liverpool’s 20th league title, watching an open-air bus parade featuring the club and its staff carrying the Premier League trophy.
British police have arrested a 53-year-old man after a car plowed into a crowd of Liverpool FC fans who were celebrating the Premier League club’s victory. Many people were rushed to the hospital.
In the space of 77 seconds at around 6pm, Doyle walked into the crowd shouting, cursing and honking repeatedly, the court heard.
One of Doyle’s victims was Anna Bilonozhenko, who was hit by her Ford Galaxy and had to undergo surgery for a broken knee. He had left Ukraine for Britain in 2024.
“We came to this country because of the war in our country, hoping that we will finally feel safe,” he said in a statement read on his behalf. “In the beginning, we did but now that feeling has been taken away … it feels like we’re losing our security again.”
Some of those caught up in the incident described the long-term effects on themselves and their loved ones, saying they could not work, take care of their families, live in crowded places or watch Liverpool games.
