Man who drove into crowd at Liverpool soccer parade pleads guilty to 31 charges

LONDON (Reuters) -A British man who injured more than 130 people by ploughing his car into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans during May's Premier League victory parade pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 31 charges, including nine of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Paul Doyle sobbed in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court as he changed his pleas to guilty on the first day of what was due to be his trial. He had pleaded not guilty in September.

Doyle repeatedly broke down in tears as the 31 charges were read to him, simply saying in response: "Guilty." He will be sentenced next month.

He also pleaded guilty to 17 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, three counts of wounding with intent, affray and dangerous driving.

The Crown Prosecution Service said dashcam footage from Doyle's vehicle showed that he had become increasingly agitated by the crowds before he deliberately drove at people, injuring 134 including eight children, one as young as six months.

POLICE SAY 'SHEER LUCK' NO ONE KILLED

About a million people came out to celebrate Liverpool's title win in the city centre, watching an open-top bus parade featuring the team and its staff with the Premier League trophy.

Liverpool had last won the Premier League in the 2019/20 season, but were unable to have a public celebration in May 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Shortly after the Liverpool team had passed in their bus, however, Doyle drove his Ford Galaxy car into pedestrians before the vehicle stopped and angry fans converged on it.

Sarah Hammond, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said the incident "struck at the heart of a city united in joy, leaving fear in its wake".

"Driving a vehicle into a crowd is an act of calculated violence. This was not a momentary lapse by Paul Doyle — it was a choice he made that day and it turned celebration into mayhem," she said in a statement.

Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald from Merseyside Police said that "it is only by sheer luck that nobody was killed because of Doyle's reckless actions".

Doyle was warned by Judge Andrew Menary that it was "inevitable" he was facing a lengthy jail term next month.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin,Editing by Sarah Young, Peter Graff and Ed Osmond)