Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The former Royal Marine who pleaded guilty to mowing down 134 Liverpool football club fans at a victory parade in England was described as a man who lost his temper during a sentencing hearing on Monday.
Paul Doyle, 54, is to be sentenced Tuesday by Judge Andrew Menary for striking elderly people and children as young as 6 months, with more than 50 hospitalized, on May 26.
Doyle is facing a sentence of up to life in prison after changing his not guilty plea to guilty on the first day of the trial Nov. 26.
Paramedic Jay Vernon, who was first on scene at the Liverpool parade, told the London Standard he feared there had been a terror attack.
On Monday, bodycam footage was played, and victim impact statements explained how they had "emotional and psychological injury" as well as "frequent flashbacks."
In his police interview, Doyle claimed he acted in a "blind panic" because he feared for his life. However, prosecutor Paul Greaney said the dashcam footage showed that Doyle "just lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to."
He pleaded guilty to 31 offenses, including dangerous driving and multiple counts of causing or attempting to cause grievous bodily harm. People had been celebrating the Liverpool FC soccer club's Premier League title in May.
The street was closed to non-emergency vehicles with about 1 million people in attendance for "what they thought would be a day of joyfulness," Greaney said.
The prosecutor warned those in the courtroom, including victims, that footage involving Doyle's Ford Galaxy Titanium was "truly shocking" with a "man in a rage whose anger had completely taken hold of him."
"The defendant could not have failed to see that he had struck very many people on his journey down Dale Street and Water Street, stopping to reverse and then drive on a number of times," Greaney told the court.
Doyle held his head in his hands and cried throughout the first day of sentencing.
Dashcam footage showed bodies spinning through the air as he accelerated into crowds while screaming obscenities and blasting his horn.
During the seven-minute rampage, a police body camera showed four victims, including a 77-year-old woman and a bleeding 11-year-old boy, being rescued from beneath the 2-ton vehicle as an officer shouted: "Oh my god, oh my god!"
A 6-month-old boy, Teddy Eveson, was "extraordinarily" uninjured despite being left lying on the road when Doyle's car hit his pushchair, Greaney said.
Sheree Aldridge, 37, said: "I felt an overwhelming pain in my leg and looked up to see Teddy's pushchair on its side further up the road. I thought my Teddy was dead.
"I thought I was next. I thought my children would grow up without a mother."
Menary, the honorary recorder of Liverpool, lifted reporting restrictions preventing the media from publishing the baby's name after his parents agreed for their son to be identified.
An unidentified 13-year-old boy was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and sustained injuries that forced him to miss months of sports.
A former soldier, Dan Barr, climbed into a rear passenger seat and held the car's gear selector in "park." Doyle still kept his foot on the accelerator.
"In any event, what brought the Galaxy to a halt was a combination of the number of people trapped beneath the vehicle and the actions of Daniel Barr -- not the decision of Paul Doyle," Greaney said.
After Doyle was dragged into a police van through a swarm of angry football fans, he told officers: "I've just ruined my family's life."
Doyle said he was picking up friends from the parade when he used his Ford Galaxy "as a weapon" Greaney said.
"The strong sense from the dashcam footage is that the defendant regarded himself as the most important person on Dale Street, and considered that everyone else needed to get out of his way so that he could get to where he wanted to get to."
He added: "He was prepared to cause those in the crowd, even children, serious harm if necessary to achieve his aim of getting through."