Liverpool fans haunted by parade horror one year on - 'he nearly killed my family and he’s ruined my life'

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A great-grandad mown down in the Liverpool FC parade horror says he is still haunted by the nightmare - as victims mark one year since the attack. Stefan Dettlaff, 74, was holding wife Hilda’s hand when Paul Doyle’s Ford Galaxy ploughed into supporters after the Reds’ title parade in Liverpool city centre.

The married former Marine , who had lost his temper after becoming stuck on Water Street, drove his car “as a weapon” through families celebrating the Premier League triumph on May 26 last year.

In just two minutes, his vehicle collided with more than 130 people, leaving supporters screaming, and parents desperately dragging children out of its path. A baby was thrown 15ft into the air during the carnage.

Miraculously, no-one was killed in Doyle's Liverpool rampage and he was jailed for 21 years and six months in December at the city's crown court.

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But Mr Dettlaff suffered six broken ribs and a shoulder injury. His wife, Hilda, 75, was thrown face-first onto the bonnet of the car. One year on, the couple have both healed from their physical injuries - but the terror of that day still comes rushing back.

Mr Dettlaff said: “There’s times you just sit there and it just hits you, what went on, and you feel awful about it. It just gets at you. You might see something and it just brings it all back. You could be out somewhere and hear a noise and it just terrifies you. You just jump and panic, thinking, ‘Is this going on again?’'

Mr and Mrs Dettlaff, from Birkenhead, had become separated from their family after the celebrations and were making their way back through the crowds when they heard a commotion among the throng of supporters.

It was on Water Street that dad-of-three Doyle had tailgated an ambulance onto the closed road. Instead of stopping, he drove his car at people to try and force his way through. As fans screamed and tried to get out of the way, Doyle hurled abuse at them and accelerated - leaving 134 people injured.

Mr Dettlaff recalled how they had walked up and down Water Street looking for their family. “Then we came up Water Street and we started hearing these noises…bodies were getting flung around. And then - bang. All of a sudden, we were run over. I tried to get out of the way and it hit me and I got flung into the gutter.”

Mr Dettlaff blacked out after being thrown to the ground. Mrs Dettlaff was hit a second later - her body buckling as the Doyle struck, causing her face to hit the car bonnet.

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When her husband came round, he was unable to speak properly and desperately wanted to know where his wife was.

He said: “Somebody called David came to help me. I couldn’t speak. I was just numb. I didn’t know what was happening. He just kept saying, ‘Mate, stay there, I’ll look after you.’ I didn’t know where my wife was. He asked what her name was and he was shouting it. He said, ‘You’re all right mate, she’s here.’”

But he said he couldn’t hear her and was “lying in the gutter” thinking, ‘My wife’s dead.’ I really thought she was dead. I was absolutely panicking.” It was only when he was placed in an ambulance that he realised his wife was alive.

The couple were taken to Aintree hospital after the horror, with Merseyside Police describing it as 'pure luck' that there were no fatalities.

Mr Dettlaff says the ordeal has changed the way the couple live, with both wary of crowds and sudden noises. The great-grandad of seven also says the attack has made him realise how fragile life is. He said: 'You sit there at a barbecue with all the family and just think, 'God, I’m lucky to be here.'

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Former British soldier Dan Eveson, 37, says he's also been changed since his family “were nearly killed” in the horror. The dad remembers “every second” of that day.

“People were singing Liverpool songs and chanting and then two seconds later it was hell on earth,” he told The Mirror .

The former soldier, who served with the Royal Military Police, saw the vehicle accelerate behind them and told his partner Sheree Aldridge, also 37, “we are going to die.”

His wife was thrown onto the bonnet suffering leg injuries, then dragged under the car, the pram with five month old Teddy inside was flung 15ft into the air. Dan was hit in the chest.

Miraculously 'Super Ted', as his dad calls him, survived but the damage to his family still goes on.

“Doyle nearly killed my family and he’s ruined my life. He’s taken my job away from me so I can't provide for my kids any more," Daniel Eveson, 36, told the Mirror:

The dad, who had to quit his factory job, suffered a torn trapezius muscle in his neck and back, a broken sternum and three cracked ribs.

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“It’s not just the physical injuries, it’s the mental injuries too. I can't sleep at night, I have nightmares. I can't take Ted out in the pram. Any crowds make me feel unsafe. I don't trust anyone really, I'm very on guard.”

He says he too is haunted by that day, recalling: “We were walking up the street to go back to the car and we saw two lads fall on the floor. I thought they were scrapping.

“I saw the car coming down the road. I bounced down the side, Sheree went (on the bonnet) then under the car. I remember looking at her looking me in the eyes, she looked scared, petrified

“I followed the car down the road and I threw the bottle through the window. I don't remember this but I was told I was headbutting the window for about five seconds till it went through.

“Since then I’ve become friends with Dan Barr who stopped the car, even though he was being bitten and punched. He’s my hero and now a good friend, he’s ex-army as well and I think we stopped him because our training kicked in. I love Dan and my boy is going to know who he is."

After they stopped the car hurting anyone else, Dan rushed back to find Sheree in the road. "I picked her up and put her up on the side on the curb and said to her, ‘where's Ted?’ and she didn't know where he was. So I went and looked for him. “

Breaking down in tears, he said: “I didn't know he was going to be alive to be honest, I thought he was dead. So when I saw him on the floor it was the best feeling in the world .”

About where it all happened, he said: “I've been back since, I've walked down that road where it happened and that was probably one of the hardest things I've done.”

He revisited the scene last December, as he attended Doyle’s sentencing where he “locked eyes” with the man who has left him in such torment.

“I just walked down the road and I sat down there and I had a cry. It's a lot of memories and most of them are bad now. I've been going to that city since I was a kid. It's always been my happy place. “

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Dan from Telford told how at the sentencing Doyle looked “petrified” but Dan admits he is still burning with anger towards him.

Doyle is serving a prison sentence for 21 years and six months after pleading guilty to 17 charges relating to the devastation he caused on May 26th.

“He tried to kill us. There's no difference with someone getting a machine gun out. He used his car as a weapon,’ Dan added. “I just don't get how we're still here. “

Doyle had told police he acted in blind panic, but prosecutors said he was 'in a rage' hurling foul-mouthed abuse at pedestrians during the seven-minute rampage. Dashcam footage from his own car showed bodies spinning through the air as he accelerated into crowds while screaming: 'F***ing hell, move!'