Driver who rammed through crowd at Liverpool football parade sentenced to over 20 years

A driver who injured more than 130 people when he plowed his car into a crowd of football fans celebrating Liverpool's Premier League championship was sentenced to over 20 years in prison Tuesday.

Paul Doyle rammed his minivan through a sea of fans on May 26 and halted after a bystander got in the vehicle and forced it into park. It came to a stop atop bodies.

"The footage is truly shocking,” Judge Andrew Menary said in Liverpool Crown Court. “It is difficult if not impossible to convey in words alone the scenes of devastation you caused. It shows you deliberately accelerating into groups of fans, time and time again.”

Doyle sobbed during the two-day sentencing as prosecutors detailed the crime, using graphic video footage and reading emotional statements from dozens of victims.

Doyle, 54, pleaded guilty last month to 31 counts, including dangerous driving and multiple counts of attempting or causing grievous bodily harm and intentional wounding.

Prosecutors said Doyle used his vehicle as a weapon to ram through the sea of people walking toward him following the victory parade. People who scrambled for safety said they feared a terror attack was unfolding.

But the explanation was "as simple as the consequences were awful,” prosecutor Paul Greaney said.

Doyle flew into a fury because he couldn't get where he was going fast enough to pick up a family friend who had attended the parade.

"He was a man in a rage, whose anger had completely taken hold of him,” Greaney said.

The judge dismissed Doyle's explanation of having panicked as “demonstrably untrue.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS