As this is now live criminal proceedings, and to avoid any risk of harming the trial, I’ll close the thread. It will be reopened when it can be discussed freely.
Paul Doyle has pleaded guilty to all charges. BBC link here:
It’s something of a relief to me that this won’t be dragged out again for the next 6 weeks.
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I’m just glad no one died and glad no one has to relive it.
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Our victory parade last May allowed an unprecedented number of Liverpool fans to celebrate together our Premier League title win – something we were unable to do in 2020.
The day of incredible joy ended in unimaginable circumstances and we hope today’s conviction brings some peace to all those affected by the horrific incident. Our thoughts are with them all.
We would like to thank our emergency services and partner agencies – Merseyside Police, North West and St John Ambulance Services, Merseyside Fire & Rescue – and members of the public, who responded with such bravery and compassion on the day. Their actions undoubtedly saved lives and exemplified the spirit of our city.
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I couldn’t believe reading him described as a ‘quiet family man’ (presumably by the defence) when in fact he was a borderline psychopath with a history of gratuitous violence. How the fuck do they get away with that shit ?
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Social media tried to push the provoked line seems the guy was a dick after all.
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Good riddance!! He is lucky he is not facing a murder charge!
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Sadly I think some of them will have PTSD.
Hope everyone is getting the help they need.
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I’ve seen social media trying to push all sorts of things. Any story about Hillsborough seems to push the lies from the S*n. It might just be bots.
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Bots have to start from somewhere. Bitter, miserable people who take pleasure in trying to make others suffering worst.
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I don’t think it is just bots. It a mix of contrarian instincts, football tribalism, and old fashioned attention seeking.
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That was a lenient sentence. He should have faced attempted murder charges. He could have, and obviously should’ve stopped at many earlier points. But he didn’t and he kept compounding it and getting angrier.
If someone kills another human being in a fit of rage, it’s still considered murder. So why is it not considered with the same weight when you’re behind the wheel in a car? A car is just as much a potential murder weapon as as a knife.
The fact that no one died had nothing to do with any kind of consideration. Paul Doyle drove with. It was to do with the sheer volume of people who were on the streets that afternoon physically stopped him from going much faster.
Had he continued, and had that brave hero not jumped in and pulled his gear lever to neutral, he would’ve gone faster as he was getting angrier and he would’ve most definitely killed a number of people. That to me, sounds like an attempted murder.
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Always been of this thinking.
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Because despite saying 'always have control of your car’s it is considered in law that in fact the car is in control, has a mind of it’s own. Unlike a dog it’s just a big soft cuddly teddy 
bear.
He knew exactly what he was doing in this though didn’t he? He saw clarity in that at least.
‘The fans were not to blame’
Whether Doyle has truly accepted responsibility for his atrocious decisions on 26 May is in dispute.
The court heard how his police interviews were peppered with false claims and outright lies, blaming the fans for making him fear for his life.
He claimed he had seen someone with a knife, he claimed a bottle had been thrown, he claimed he stopped as soon as he realised he had struck someone.
It was all untrue.
“The position should be stated clearly,” said Judge Andrew Menary KC, as he passed sentence.
“The crowd did not cause this incident; they reacted to it… The chaos that unfolded was caused solely by your driving, and any attempt to place responsibility on the public or the Liverpool supporters present would be unfair and wholly unfounded.”
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As someone who traveled 3,000 miles to be at the parade and was 1/4 mile from the spot about 10 minutes before, I struggled with how to grapple with it for a while. I planned a whole vacation around seeing the parade then bopping around England and Edinburgh figuring I’d be on Cloud Nine the whole time because Liverpool won. Watched the Palace game and trophy lift with family and the parade was fantastic. The mood took a turn when hearing about the incident, but I still had to get through the rest of the trip. Went to Anfield on the Thursday for the museum and pictures, which was great, but I felt almost guilty and tried to keep those affected in my mind. In fact, I didn’t feel better about the whole thing until I heard that the last person was released from hospital. Then the Jota thing happened 2 days later and I was back to trying to wrap my head around it all.
On the one hand, up there with the best days of my life in terms of seeing the Premier League trophy — I used to have recurring dreams wondering if the 2020 title win really happened since the fans never got to see it. Like, I didn’t give a shit about being in the ground myself, but to see all of the supporters have their days on 27 April and 25 May was fantastic. Then seeing the trophy myself, I’ll never forget that. There was about 45 minutes between when I saw the trophy (17:15) and when everything kicked off (18:00). I saw Mo with it, I saw Nunez with it, got a wave off Gravenberch, and saw Virgil in his white coat by the Pier. In fact, most of my friends on this side of the pond, think it was very cool that I went, even fans of rival clubs, so I don’t know how much what happened penetrated their consciousness (although my dad informed me that he heard about the sentence on NPR).
On the other hand, my initial reaction was annoyance that someone affected a perfect day — just like 2020, “you won the league” became “yeah, but” through no fault of our own. Like, what the fuck?! When I first heard there were injuries about an hour and a half after the parade, I figured it was pyros. Then I saw the video, and it is an absolute miracle that no one died, and I kind of felt like by the end of June when the last person was released from hospital that we could remember the positives from the day. Then I woke up 2 days later to the shock of all shocks.
At the time, the shock surrounding Diogo’s death made the parade stuff look minor in comparison for folks like myself who were not impacted. Yet hearing victim statements this week from people who still suffer from PTSD makes it clear that it was not minor. Again, I don’t think it is talked about enough how much of a miracle it is that no one died on that day. People go on about how it tarnished the day, and I’m not gonna deny it, but when you see a large van plow through a crowd like that, the question around fatalities is “how many?”
TL;DR: It might be somewhat selfish compartmentalization, but when thinking of the trip I’m choosing to remember the 45 minutes that I enjoyed between seeing the trophy and when everything happened. Even the lead up to the parade, it was pouring rain, and I was wearing a garbage bag, but I knew after 2020 I was going to do everything to be there if we won the PL again. Obviously that doesn’t change what happened after, but it was a good example that life is fleeting and there are no guarantees so you have to hold onto the positives.
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I know what you mean I had a complete nightmare getting home and I was on that street about 10 mins prior. But I felt back about claiming it all back at the time or even mentioning it here.
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