Berliner Boersenzeitung - Man who hit Liverpool parade jailed for over 21 years

Paul Doyle, 54, sobbed openly in court as victim impact statements were read out, telling of people's permanent injuries and how they had been left with nightmares and painful memories.

"What should have been a day of communal celebration has been instead left as a lasting legacy of fear, injury and loss across this community," Judge Andrew Menary told him.

"Your actions caused horror and devastation on a scale not previously encountered by this court."

Shocking dashcam clips played in court over the two-day sentencing hearing showed Doyle aggressively beeping his horn, shouting and swearing at the crowds to move out of his way.

"The impact extended far beyond those named on the indictment, parents and children, police officers, grandparents, students, tourists and passers by were all cut up, caught up in the events, which many believed in the moment to be a mass casualty terror attack," Menary said.

Doyle used the vehicle as a weapon, injuring 134 people over the course of less than 10 minutes, prosecuting lawyer Paul Greaney told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday.

"Paul Doyle just lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to. In a rage he drove into the crowd, and when he did so, he intended to cause people within the crowd serious harm," he said.

Doyle pleaded guilty to 31 criminal charges last month, including causing grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent, affray and dangerous driving.

He had previously denied the charges and prosecutors said he had planned to contest them by arguing that he drove into crowds after panicking.

But he changed his plea unexpectedly on the second day of his November trial, admitting each of the 31 counts, which relate to 29 victims aged between six months and 77 years old.

- Baby thrown from pram -

Coyle, a father of two sons, left his family home in a Liverpool suburb on May 26 in his Ford Galaxy Titanium.

He was due to collect a friend who had joined the hundreds of thousands of fans celebrating Liverpool's victory in claiming a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title.

Over the course of seven minutes, Doyle instead drove his nearly two-tonne vehicle seemingly indiscriminately into pedestrians, some of whom were thrown against the car's bonnet.

Although no one was killed, 50 required hospital treatment, according to Merseyside Police.

His youngest victim was a six-month-old baby who was flung from his pram but was miraculously unhurt.

Police swiftly declared that the incident was not terrorism.

After hitting the first victims, Doyle continued down another street and struck more people, reversing at one point and colliding with others as well as an ambulance.

"You had repeated opportunities to stop but you chose instead to continue that regardless," Menary said.

The car eventually stopped after several people including children became trapped beneath it and a pedestrian jumped inside and pushed the gear into park, helping bring it to a stop.

Onlookers described scenes of carnage, including hearing the car drive over people and seeing scores of victims lying on the street.

"In my 20 years of policing, this is the most distressing and graphic footage that I have come across in terms of his dashcam," Merseyside Police Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald told AFP.

"It's really difficult to comprehend how somebody can just drive over people in a fit of rage to get to where he wants to get to."

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)