Liverpool parade witness left traumatised by rampage - as driver sentenced to 21 years in prison
Paul Doyle, 54, has been sentenced to 21 and a half years in prison
A Liverpool fan, who witnessed Paul Doyle’s car rampage in the city centre, has told LBC it left him with panic attacks and fearful of ever going to a large-scale event again.
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Doyle, 54, is now serving a 21-and-a-half-year sentence for mowing down 134 innocent people in Liverpool City Centre in the moments after Liverpool’s Premier League Title Parade on May 26th.
Speaking exclusively to LBC, Nathan said: “The day, it was just massive excitement.
"You just felt the excitement in the air, and then the bus came there was red flares everywhere, confetti, fireworks going off and it was just one of the best days and feelings ever.”
But the excitement quickly turned to terror when Doyle tried to force his way along Dale Street and Water Street, despite the road being closed.
Having tailgated an ambulance, he found himself amongst thousands of supporters who were making their way on foot away from the Pier Head.
He said: “There were loads of people walking up the street and then that's when I just heard an ambulance siren go off and I just remember thinking let's get onto the side of the road because clearly someone's in trouble so we need to let the ambulance through.
“As I look up, I see the car coming towards us. People (were being) flipped into the air and then the car's coming towards me”, he said. “I was lucky enough that it swerved out the way, however, it went into other people.
“It was literally in the blink of an eye. I'm seeing people get hit, I'm jumping to the side of the road, getting little children out of the way, and then once I've got them to safety, it was only me and my girlfriend's little sister. I saw a little kid in a pram was hit by the car and, if I can remember correctly, there was three or four people under the car when it finally stopped.”
Doyle’s determination to keep on driving had been halted by Dan Barr, a quick-thinking onlooker who jumped into the back of the Ford Galaxy Titanium and jammed on the brake.
"I think it was just pure shock, it was extremely chaotic”, Nathan said.
"There was many people trying to run, grab their kids to the side of the road, a load of people crying, a lot of people chasing the car to stop the car. Police were coming through as well to clear people and get to him.”
The impact of Nathan’s experience didn’t kick in until the following day, he said:
“The next day I went to work and that's when I had a full breakdown and I just had to come home and I couldn't work. I was just crying and still in total shock.
"After a couple of days passed, I went back to work, but I experienced my very first ever panic attack where I was loading my van to take stuff away from the site we were working at, and as I walked up to the road I looked left and right to make sure nothing was coming, but then as I stepped forward, that is when I had my first panic attack because I just physically could not cross the road because I was just terrified that a car was going to come and hit me.
"The kids were terrified. Some luckily had headphones on so didn't hear or see anything. But for the ones that didn't and did see what had happened, I can't even to imagine how it would affect their lives going today, because as a grown adult, it was hard for me to process what had happened. So for a young kid that was just there to celebrate their favourite team and players and with the fans to then have to go through that and process it all, I can't imagine how hard it would be for them.
"I'm better now, but it has affected me in my day-to-day life and I think it still could potentially affect me in the future.”
Doyle, a disgraced Royal Marine with a history of violence, had waited until the first day of his trial to admit his guilt.
Nathan said: "For me it had to have been intentional because there was many road closure signs. There was even where the ambulance came through, there was gates there locked up, so the only way he got through was tailgate in the ambulance, and even then there's still at least 200-300 people you can see in front of you with no road space. So, for me, it had to have been intentional because you just don't drive where you can't drive and where people are.”
The longer-term impact is likely to stop Nathan ever going to another parade, he said: "I'm never going to the parade, I'm never going to a big event out in the open ever again. I think he deserves to go to prison, he deserves prison time."
Meanwhile, one of the first emergency responders on the scene has spoken exclusively to LBC about what he experienced in the aftermath of Doyle’s rampage.
In order to maintain his anonymity, we are referring to him as “James”, he said:
"The day was absolutely brilliant.
"The fans were brilliant and the atmosphere was great.
"There were some other first responders in the area that saw the actual incident happen and then it was reported back through the channels.
“Initially I heard it was car versus pedestrian and then as the scene unfolded, it was multiple and that's when obviously a major incident was declared.”
Chaos erupted as Doyle ploughed on through the crowds, mowing down innocent men, women and children.
"It was quite a bad scene”, he said. “There were still people stuck under the vehicle, so there were teams dealing with that, there were teams dealing with walking wounded and then there were teams dealing with the driver.”
Doyle had been dragged from his car by people in the crowd who, at the time, feared it was a marauding terror attack.
James added: "The initial concerns when the information came through was is this a small incident or is this a major incident? Is there more than one person? Is it part of a bigger picture? So that always goes through your head when you're responding to these things. What didn't help is social media kicking in straight away. There were a lot of disinformation put out which then put a lot more people on guard, it makes the scene chaotic, so when the information was released that they thought it wasn't a terrorist attack, that helped a lot.”
In the hours after the incident, rumours circulated online about the identity of the driver and the reasons behind the attack, with Merseyside Police later confirming the suspect as a white, British man from Liverpool.”
In sentencing Doyle, Judge Andrew Menary praised the response of the crowd as they dealt with the terror of what was going on, something James echoed, he said:
"The crowd were brilliant. Everybody just wanted to do the right thing, they were helping the best they could for physical moving-power, carrying, helping other people. It certainly showed the Liverpool fans in a good light.”