Liverpool parade accused pleads not guilty

A man accused of "using his car as a weapon" by deliberately driving into crowds of Liverpool FC fans has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges.

More than 130 people, including eight children, were injured when a Ford Galaxy car struck pedestrians on Water Street in Liverpool City Centre, as fans celebrated the club's Premier League victory parade on 26 May.

Former Royal Marine Commando Paul Doyle, 53, faces charges including causing grievous bodily harm with intent and dangerous driving.

He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court via videolink from prison where he answered "not guilty" as each of the charges were put to him.

The allegations against Mr Doyle, of Burghill Road in West Derby, Liverpool, relate to 29 victims, including two babies.

The court heard his legal team had faced significant difficulties being allowed access to their client in prison, facing weeks-long waits to visit him in person or hold conferences over videolink.

Simon Csoka, KC, defending, said: "The system just isn't working."

He also said Belmarsh Prison had still not arranged for Mr Doyle to be given a laptop in custody so he could view CCTV footage and other digital evidence.

Mr Csoka said the prison's approach had been "incomprehensible" and the defence had faced "impenetrable red tape" in getting a laptop to Mr Doyle.

Mr Doyle, who was sitting in a videolink booth wearing a grey t-shirt, wiped tears from his eyes as Mr Csoka described the problems the defence had faced.

He is charged with dangerous driving, affray, 18 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine counts of causing GBH with intent and two counts of wounding with intent.

The youngest victim is six months old, while the oldest is 77.

Judge Andrew Menary KC said there would be a pre-trial review hearing on 27 October.

The trial was delayed by a day to 25 November, he told the court.

At a previous hearing prosecutors said their case was that Mr Doyle had used the car "as a weapon" on Water Street just after 18:00 BST on 26 May.

During that hearing, junior counsel Philip Astbury said it was the prosecution's case that Mr Doyle "drove deliberately in that car at people amongst that crowd as they tried to leave the area".

"Six charges of assault reflect the most seriously injured of those who were struck by the vehicle," he said.

"The first count of dangerous driving reflects the manner of driving before and up until the point he used his vehicle deliberately as a weapon to injure those individuals."

Mr Doyle was originally charged with seven offences but 24 new counts were added to the indictment at a hearing last month.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.