A man has been charged with numerous offences after a car was driven into a crowd celebrating Liverpool Football Club Premier League win earlier this week.
Paul Doyle, 53, faces seven charges in total, including dangerous driving, malicious wounding with intent and grievous bodily harm.
It follows shocking scenes in the city in northern England on Monday, local time, when 79 people, including children, were left injured.
At a press conference on Thursday, Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims read out the charges and said seven people were still recovering in hospital.
She announced Mr Doyle had been charged with seven offences, including:
- Two counts of unlawful and malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm;
- Two counts of causing unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm;
- Two counts of attempted unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm; and
- One count of dangerous driving.
Mr Doyle is set to appear in a local court on Friday local time.
Local media outlets reported Mr Doyle had previously served in the Royal Marines, was a local businessman and father of three.
Constable Sims said investigators were working to "ensure every avenue is explored" in the case, and urged people not to speculate online about the case.
"It is important to ensure that every victim gets the justice they deserve," Chief Crown Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said.
"We know that Monday's shocking scenes reverberated around the city of Liverpool and the entire country on what should have been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousand of Liverpool FC supporters."
The charges did not indicate how many victims the counts were tied to and Hammond and Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims of Merseyside Police did not take questions in a brief news conference in Liverpool.
Hundreds of thousands of Reds fans had gathered in Liverpool city centre when scenes of joy turned to horror.
Images on social media showed the car ploughing through a crowd, running over people and others bouncing off its bonnet.
Four people, including one child, were trapped under the vehicle, which had to be lifted to remove them, fire services said.
In other clips circulating online, the vehicle was seen being halted and swarmed by angry fans, who smashed the back windows as police sought to hold them back.
Police quickly ruled out terrorism, as well as releasing that the suspect was a white British man, revealing his ethnicity in a rare move to quell misinformation online.
ABC/Reuters
