Liverpool crash updates: Suspect revealed as married father-of-three as police given more time to question him – UK Times

Treading slowly out of their Airbnb on to the heavily-policed street, the O’Brien family turned to inspect the aftermath of the appalling events the evening before.

Behind the tangled cordon, empty beer bottles and takeaway boxes were strewn across the deserted road. In the distance, a forensic officer checked the road surface for evidence.

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No doubt desperate to halt the spread of misinformation online, which had already begun to circulate on social media along with graphic footage of the incident, Merseyside Police made the unusual decision to share the suspect’s ethnicity and nationality at the earliest stages of the investigation.

It marks a “complete step change” in their approach to the response to the horrific knife attack in Southport last summer, police commentators have noted.

A vacuum of information in the aftermath of the stabbing at a children’s dance class was filled with misinformation about the suspect’s ethnicity and asylum status, which helped to fuel angry far-right riots which erupted across the country.

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Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said in the future “we would always want to be more transparent in terms of the data we release” when asked if police in Liverpool were right to release the ethnicity of the suspect.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m not going to criticise another police chief who makes a judgment in a really difficult, complex situation. Every case needs judging on its merits. I think as we go forward in the future, we would always want to be more transparent in terms of the data we release. Sometimes the nature of the investigation, the nature of case, makes that difficult, but in principle of course, transparency is good.”

Asked if moving in the direction of declaring a suspect’s ethnicity sooner is the way to go, Sir Mark added: “In general, I think we have to be realistic and more often… put more personal details in public, earlier.”

He added that we are in an age of citizen journalism and “some content will be all over social media very, very quickly” and people will be “making guesses and inferences” so “in that world, putting more facts out is the only way to deal with it”.

Sir Mark also said if those facts “embolden racists” in some cases then “we need to confront those individuals”, and added: “Trying to avoid truths when half the truth is in the public domain is going to be quite difficult, going forward.”

As a police officer of more than 25 years – and as a lifelong Liverpool FC supporter – the events of Water Street on Monday evening were impossible to watch with anything other than a sense of abject horror. An occasion of joyous celebration turned, in just a handful of moments, into one of unspeakable trauma.

Whenever I see footage of police officers running in the opposite direction to a fleeing crowd, I remember my years in blue. The painful privilege of policing is to venture repeatedly into the hurting places: at the scenes of crimes, and of every kind of catastrophe. And, in those places, to see things that you can never unsee.

In my two and a half decades spent policing in London, I worked with endless vast crowds: at Premier League and Champions League football matches; at Notting Hill Carnival; on New Year’s Eve in Trafalgar Square; at central London demonstrations. It is a challenge at the best of times, keeping tens of thousands of innocent people safe as they sing and protest and dance and march.

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A Liverpool fan run down at the club’s victory parade has described how he “locked eyes” with the driver and “pleaded for him to stop” moments before the car ploughed into him.

Jack Trotter, 22, was enjoying celebrating his team’s success when he found himself “face to face” with the Ford Galaxy on Water Street in the city centre on Monday.

The stricken Northern Irishman was helped by fellow fans and locals into a nearby pub until emergency services arrived to take him to hospital.

Photos of the father-of-one being carried by two firemen while wearing a Liverpool scarf were on the front pages of several national papers on Tuesday.

Mr Trotter, from Newtownards, County Down, escaped without serious injury and has been discharged from hospital, but fears he could be left with walking problems for weeks.

This shouldn’t have been the story.

Crammed onto the waterfront like sardines, breathing in the red mist, Liverpool fans were realising a 35-year dream. In the pelting rain, it felt like nothing could dampen the mood. Their club were Premier League champions, and unlike five years ago, they were there to see it.

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The suspected driver arrested after almost 80 people were injured when a car ploughed into crowds at the Liverpool victory parade has been revealed to be a father-of-three.

The man’s identity has not yet been released or confirmed by the police.

One neighbour told The Mirror: “It seems completely out of character. They are such a nice family, the boys are really nice and well-behaved. [He] is a fantastic guy. He came over to help us when our alarm went off once, and then did the same for our immediate neighbours too.

“It just doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t feel right. They are lovely. The whole thing is so sad – for his wife and children and also for the people who were injured.”

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A mother dragged on the bonnet of a car at the Liverpool parade has shared the horrifying moment she spotted her six-month-old baby’s pram lying upside down in the road after the pair were hit by the vehicle.

Sheree Aldridge feared she and her son, Teddy, would die after the Ford Galaxy vehicle ploughed into them in Water Street on Monday evening.

The 36-year-old was pushing the pram alongside her partner Dan Eveson when they saw an ambulance making its way down the road, followed by a sudden noise that sounded like a brawl.

“I don’t like fighting and get really anxious, so I turned around and wanted to get the baby out of the way,” she told The Independent from her hospital bed on Wednesday morning.

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Officers are scouring CCTV footage to piece together the Ford Galaxy’s movements before the incident, Detective Superintendent Rachel Wilson.

She said: “I’m pleased to say that the number of people in hospital is reducing as they continue to recover from the awful incident. We continue to support those still receiving treatment and as part of our ongoing enquiries we are identifying more people who were injured.

“I want to reassure the public of Merseyside that detectives are making significant progress as we seek to establish the full circumstances that led to what happened.

“In addition, extensive CCTV enquiries are being carried out across the city to establish the movements of the car, a Ford Galaxy, before the incident took place.

“We have already had an incredible response from many of those who were there on the day, and I thank them for their co-operation with our investigation.

“I would encourage anyone who has not yet contacted police who may have information on this incident to do so. An extensive investigation into the precise circumstances of the incident is ongoing, and we continue to ask people not to speculate on the circumstances surrounding the incident and refrain from sharing distressing content online.”