New footage shows the moments leading up to an afternoon of horror
CCTV footage of the moment Paul Doyle ploughed into crowds on Water Street
CCTV footage of the moment Paul Doyle ploughed into crowds on Water Street
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New footage shows Paul Doyle's journey on the day of the Liverpool FC parade - from running a red light near his home before ploughing into crowds. Footage released by Merseyside Police shows how Doyle's driving switched from "dangerous and aggressive" to causing devastation.
The 54-year-old injured more than 100 people, from babies to pensioners, on May 26. Liverpool Crown Court heard Doyle used his vehicle as a "weapon" after his "anger had completely taken hold of him" at around 6pm that day.
Doyle's dashcam footage showing men, women and child flying over his car's bonnet while he shouted "f***ing move" was deemed too graphic to be released, the Liverpool Echo reports. Doyle, of Burghill Road in West Derby, Liverpool, was jailed for 21-and-a-half years on Tuesday afternoon with dozens of those he injured in attendance at court.
Merseyside's top judge, Andrew Menary KC, said: "It is difficult, if not impossible, to convey in words alone the scene of devastation you caused. It shows you quite deliberately accelerating into groups of fans time and time again. You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the bonnet, drove over limbs, crushed prams and forced those nearby to scatter in terror. You ploughed on, at speed and over a considerable distance, violently knocking people aside or simply driving over them, person after person after person."
Doyle had started the day by doing a "kind deed" for his friend after agreeing to drop him and his young family in the city centre for the parade. Doyle left his home at around 12.41pm and dropped them on Exchange Street East, seconds from where he would cause carnage hours later.
The journey was called "perfectly ordinary, even mundane" with the pair chatting about house prices, schools and their common work in IT. The parade began close to Allerton Road, in the south of the city, at 2.30pm before snaking around and back towards The Strand, where it was due to finish around three hours later.
The new footage now has shown how impatient Doyle's return journey was markedly more dangerous. Just minutes after he left his home his dashcam showed him run a red light. And shortly before he arrived on Dale Street, Doyle almost crashed into a number of LFC fans crossing the road before driving the full journey around the roundabout in the far-left lane.
Paul Doyle runs a red light on his way to the parade
Paul Doyle runs a red light on his way to the parade
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The footage then showed Doyle join traffic at the most-easterly end of Dale Street before crawling up the busy road behind a number of other vehicles. While other drivers patiently waited in the busy traffic or turned off to avoid the pedestrians, Doyle pushed on through the crowds.
In the space of a number of minutes, Doyle:
Drove in the right hand lane to avoid queuing traffic, his dashcam recording him telling pedestrians to "f***ing move".
Went through a red light at the junction with Stanley Street.
Became involved in a confrontation with a pedestrian near the Prudential Assurance building just before Temple Street.
He came perilously close to a man and a woman with a pram, barely slowing down, forcing them to move to the side of the road. In bombshell footage obtained by the Echo in May, Doyle then almost ploughed into a woman crossing the road, stamping on the brakes to stop. Doyle's face, seen through the driver's window, was emotionless as he continued on towards the thicker crowds.
As Doyle approached Dale Street's junction with North John Street, he continued to press forward, accelerating forward and forcing people to scramble out of the way. Doyle reached a set of cones which were used to filter traffic away from the final stretch of the road allowed for cars before it reached the pedestrianised zone on Water Street.
Liverpool FC parade crash timeline
Liverpool FC parade crash timeline(Image: Carys Pinches)
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But instead of following the other vehicles, Doyle went through a gap where the cones had been moved to allow an ambulance responding to a 999 call shortly before. Seconds from disaster, crowds of people were forced to jump out of his way to avoid injury.
And in the final clip, the devastation of Doyle's actions become clear. Doyle ploughed his two-tonne Ford Galaxy forward into the crowds of people while screaming: "Move. Move. Move. Move out the f***ing way. Move. F***ing hell. Move. Move. Move. F***ing hell."
In footage too graphic to release to the public, Doyle continued to shout for people to "move out the f***ing way" while smashing into people. He only stopped because of the heroic actions of Daniel Barr, who dived into the back of the car and managed to bring the vehicle into "park mode".
An angry crowd swarmed around the car and Doyle was quickly shielded by police officers who arrested him. In other footage released last night by the Echo, selfish Doyle told officers: "I've ruined my life."
CCTV footage shows the movements of the Ford Galaxy car along Dale Street before it was driven into a crowd of Liverpool fans in Dale Street
CCTV footage shows the movements of the Ford Galaxy car along Dale Street before it was driven into a crowd of Liverpool fans in Dale Street
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Judge Menary told Doyle on Tuesday: "The truth captured on your own dashcam is that you lost your temper in a rage, determined to force your way through the crowd regardless of the consequences. You admit that you intended to cause serious harm to achieve that end, even to children."
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, said: "So, why did the defendant behave in such an extraordinary and harmful way on Dale Street and Water Street? Paul Doyle claimed, when subsequently interviewed by the police, that he acted as he did in a blind panic and in fear of his life because of how some in the crowd had behaved towards him. The position of the prosecution is that this account given by the defendant to the investigators was untrue.
"The truth is a simple one. 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. When he did so, he intended to cause people within the crowd serious harm. He was prepared to cause those in the crowd, even children, serious harm if necessary to achieve his aim of getting through. The truth is as simple as the consequences were awful."
Specialist prosecutor James Allison, of CPS Mersey Cheshire’s Complex Casework Unit, said: "In seven minutes of dangerous driving, Doyle, a middle-aged family man, used that vehicle as a weapon hitting more than 100 people, including children, babies and the elderly. When it eventually ended, he had trapped some of them underneath his vehicle.
"He not only injured many people, but he also generated horror and chaos on what was meant to be a day of celebration and joyfulness. The reason why he did it? The truth is as simple as it is awful, Paul Doyle lost his temper and, in a rage, drove into people, intending to cause them serious harm."
Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald, who led Merseyside Police's investigation, said: "It is difficult to comprehend the devastating impact the events of that day have had, and continue to have, on so many people. On what should have been a day of celebration for the city, Doyle chose to act in an aggressive and dangerous manner with no regard for the safety and wellbeing of other people.
"No prison sentence will be able to undo his actions on that day or heal those who continue to suffer physically and psychologically as a result of what they endured and witnessed on the streets of the city."