Liverpool parade crash: Paul Doyle 'could have stopped car' says dad of teen hit

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The dad of a teenage fan injured at the Liverpool victory parade has condemned Paul Doyle - saying 'he could have stopped the car'.

Mason Osborne, then 17, had travelled with friends to celebrate Liverpool FC’s Premier League title win on May 26 when Doyle ploughed his car into the crowds . The teenager was struck by the vehicle as people were knocked over like skittles around him.

Dad, Nick, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, has spoken of the “absolute state of panic” he felt when his son called to say he had been hit. He said: “Me and my wife have said we are glad he’s admitted the guilt - but he has still done it. He was still in the right frame of mind, he could have stopped the car, he could have done all the correct procedures that a normal-thinking person would have done.”

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Doyle, 54, from Croxteth, Liverpool, admitted all 31 charges against him on Wednesday, moments before his trial was due to start. He had originally denied all the offences, including causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent.

Mr Osborne, a Liverpool fan, said he and his wife were watching the parade on television when they noticed the open-top parade bus carrying the Liverpool players picking up speed.

He said: “Then we had a phone call from Mason, and he was in floods of tears saying, ‘I think there's been a terror attack’. The signal cut out and we couldn't get hold of him. There was nothing on the news that we could see, nothing on the internet.”

Doyle had travelled into Liverpool city centre to pick up a friend who attended the title celebrations. Prosecutors were expected to argue that, during that 25-minute journey, rather than a singular moment of madness, Doyle’s driving had been reckless and dangerous throughout.

He had become increasingly agitated and was swearing at fans - before mowing many down. In total 134 people were injured in the incident.

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Footage posted on social media showed people bouncing off his bonnet as it swerved through the crowds. The car then slowed before accelerating again hitting dozens and leaving at least four trapped beneath its wheels. Sarah Hammond, Mersey-Cheshire chief crown prosecutor, called the horrific incident “an act of calculated violence”.

Mr Osborne said his son, now 18, told him that “the car struck him on the right thigh, reasonably hard, and pushed him to one side”. He said: “His friends all got struck and the mum of the family he was with was struck as well.

He added: "There were crowds of people and it was a case of everyone trying to get out of the way, and the car managed to hit a few of them. It was horrendous. It was one of the most traumatic, stressful times and my wife was beside herself.”

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Mason was taken to hospital with a suspected broken femur, and his friend’s mum suffered a broken ankle. His injury turned out to be a burst blood vessel, which meant the promising football player had to spend two months out of training, resting his leg and regularly applying ice until it healed.

His father said the weekend after the incident, the family went to Paris but the city was busy marking the Champions’ League final, which Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were playing against Inter Milan. He said: “The whole of Paris was like Liverpool but twice as bad, there were riot vans, flares, obviously we had to get out of that scenario so we had to quickly escape from that situation, just to make sure he was feeling better. I think he has had quite a few sleepless nights - he puts a big bravado on it but he has dealt with it really well.”

Doyle’s aggressive driving was caught on the dashcam of his Ford Galaxy Titanium. The CPS said: “Dashcam footage from Doyle’s vehicle shows that as he approached Dale Street and Water Street, he became increasingly agitated by the crowds. Rather than wait for them to pass, he deliberately drove at them, forcing his way through.

“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.”