Liverpool parade Paul Doyle sentencing latest: Court to hear from victims of ex-Royal Marine who drove into fans

On 26 May, about a million fans had packed Liverpool’s city centre to celebrate Liverpool FC’s 20th English league title win and watch an open-top bus parade featuring the team and its staff along with the trophy.

As the parade ended just after 6pm, the crowd was leaving the waterfront when a car drove into a group of fans on Water Street.

More than 130 people, including eight children, were injured.

Paul Doyle, 54, from Croxteth in Liverpool, was arrested on the same day.  He is a former Royal Marine and a father of three. 

Watch: Our North of England correspondent Katie Barnfield explains what happened in the Liverpool parade attack in two minutes…

Doyle was charged with 31 offences, and initially pleaded not guilty to all of them in September before dramatically changing his plea to guilty in court last month.

The charges relate to 29 victims, aged between six months and 77 years old, including eight who were children at the time.

The parents of the youngest victim, Teddy Eveson, later told the media he was thrown about 15 feet down the road in his pram when the crash happened.

Another victim, Rob Darke, who was left with a “life-changing” injury after attending the parade with his two sons, told Sky News he thought it was a terrorist attack.

“There was people lying about all over the place. It was like a bomb had gone off… it was carnage everywhere… people crying and screaming,” he said.

“I thought it was terrorists. That’s the first thing that came into my head. Who else would do a thing like that?”