Liverpool attacker sentenced

[ireallycantbelievethis]

Paul Doyle, the Liverpool parade attacker, has been sentenced to twenty one years and six months in prison for his attack that injured 134 people.

That’s 258 months, or less than two months per person injured. He’ll be out in half, so 129 months served. Less than one month per person. Reading the victim impact statements was awful. One from a little boy, who is completely traumatised, stuck with me.

AIBU to think this is a farce?!

So many people on here saying it’s a harsh sentence.

“He’s ruined his life”

Look at bbc. Painting him as the nice neighbour, a man with two sides.

What do you mean? Do you think there was another motive that wasn't disclosed at the trial?

Saying it’s a harsh sentence is not the same as saying it’s perfectly ok.

It’s pretty clear that he was a very angry man who intended to hurt as many people as possible.

This is interesting. As you are acting with emotion - what you are criticising him for.

and emotion has no place in the justice system.

why are you making assumptions about other people not accused of a crime? That's very irrational.

I wondered what his interactions where like domestically ...he was chucked out of the army and served time for assaults there. His colleagues say he had a "trip wire" temper...at a very young age and said he was a liability

I’m saying that there is a very obvious element of classism in the entire reporting and reaction to this.

To suggest that his family, his children, are not innocent because they 'looked past his clear anger issues' is disgraceful.

Shame on you.

In what way?

Obviously on this day day his temper was a big problem, but there's absolutely nothing to suggest it had been for the previous 30 years.

Despite the character references, I don’t believe this to be true at all.

But do you think he deliberately went out with the intention to find people to hurt?
The trial seems to have concluded it was basically road rage - people in his way so he lost his temper and drove through them.

I am amazed he will be allowed to drive again, hopefully his insurance will be prohibitively high and won’t take it up on that basis.

In that had he attacked an affluent area of London I doubt the news would be running stories about him being the “nice neighbour” and a man with “two sides”

I think that's your own bias showing though. You are lashing out at posters who have dared to not fully agree with you.

But isn't there a third consideration? That of retribution for the victims?

I thought the sentence seemed excessive, until I read some of the victim impact statements. I then began to understand, a little bit, about the impact on the lives of other people.

The mother of the child whose pram he hit and didn't know if her child was alive. I cannot even begin to think about the minutes she lived through.

The siblings who were also present during the Manchester bombing. Who felt they were recovering from their ptsd, but now have this to add to it.

The 70+ year old man who had previously considered himself to be the rock of his household, but now cries at the drop of a hat, and becomes angry with himself. Imagine, 70 years old an suddenly feeling like tgat.

The mother who comforts her 11year old when he still has nightmares.

The fact that no one died was not what that man intended, he didn't seem to care if they lived or died. It was luck. Pure simple blessed luck. None of his doing.

In my view, given that (I think 17) of his offences each carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, 21 years seems ok.

I think it's more that he is a white British man than whether this happened in Liverpool or London.

It was an absolutely horrific crime and one that’s very hard to comprehend.
I listened to the Judge sentencing him and thought he was very good. He talked about all the trauma caused to multiple people. He explained why he had given this sentence in full. He does have to make this judgement within the legal guidelines laid down for the crime. He can’t just pick a number according to how heinous he thought this man’s actions were.

Might just be me, but somehow I doubt he was always a gentle soul at home. I bet his wife walked on eggshells, was controlled by him even if she doesn't really recognise it.

And in what, thirty years, she never thought to speak out?

17 of his offences carried life sentences.

You get the two sides story when a man kills his family, and the neighbours all say he seemed a nice family man.

I thought it was a high sentence (compared to other crimes).

Even life imprisonment doesn't usually mean life in prison

You're getting silly now.

Can you imagine living under the same roof as him when he's in a mood.
I bet his family are breathing a sigh of relief.

He was in a blind rage. He had previous criminal convictions for violence, was discharged from the military for assault, and he also went to prison for GBH for biting a man's ear off in a fight. His military colleagues said he had short fuse and was prone to flying off the handle and beating people up on nights out for nothing. Hardly the mild mannered family man the press made him out to be. He sounds like a fucking animal and I'm glad he's got a long sentence.

As someone from Liverpool too (me), this man was an Evertonian and the hatred they can have for Liverpool supporters can be insane sometimes. I say this as someone who has EFC fans in their family. I'm not saying that was the sole reason he did it but the fact that he ended up getting stuck in the LFC parade might have been a factor that set him off in a rage considering he was already prone to violent outbursts.

And for those questioning why he got such a long sentence you are forgetting that he also had previous criminal and military convictions for violence, assault and GBH and served prison time for GBH, so that will have been taken into account when sentencing as he is not a first-time offender.