Walking through crowds of deliriously happy football supporters, Sheree Aldridge carefully pushed her five-month-old baby, Teddy, in his pram. She and her partner, Daniel Eveson, were walking back to their car after Liverpool’s Premier League-winning victory parade – an afternoon of celebration and jubilation for more than a million fans.
Moments later, as the family of three joined Water Street, they heard a loud noise. Then someone shouted “Car”.
Mr Eveson, 37, instantly spun his partner round, away from the impending danger. But it was too late. Paul Doyle’s 1.9-tonne Ford Galaxy crashed into her side, flinging the pram – and her beloved baby boy – 15ft down the road.
Ms Aldridge, 37, a safeguarding officer, was thrown onto the bonnet of Doyle’s car. She fell back onto the road and was run over, which left her with injuries that medics described as being akin to the sort that are sustained in a high-speed car crash.
Follow our live updates on the Paul Doyle sentencing HERE
But what happened to her son was a miracle, she said.
“I lost sight of the pram, and as I lay there in the road, I screamed and screamed to let people know my baby was up the road,” she told The Independent.
“Dan rushed forward, found the pram and took Teddy out of it before going straight over to an ambulance. I can’t believe to this day how lucky we were that he was OK, he was not injured. It was a miracle, really.
“If Dan hadn’t turned us round, we would have been hit by the car head-on. I’m very grateful, and I’ll never forget what he did for us.”
Last week, the family marked the first birthday of Ted – now nicknamed “Super Ted” – with a safari party and balloons. It was a special moment to celebrate for the parents, who live in Cannock in Staffordshire.
But they are both still battling with the physical and emotional consequences of what happened that day.
After spending two weeks in hospital for a leg wound, Ms Aldridge requires continuous treatment for nerve damage in the limb as well as a spinal injury. Since the crash, she has had 44 medical appointments.
Mr Eveson, meanwhile, learnt several weeks after the incident that he had suffered three broken ribs as well as bruised muscles. The pain has forced him to give up work as a labourer.
Ms Aldridge said: “My injury means I can’t pick up Teddy for too long, and I can’t sit down for too long on the floor with him. The injuries in my body mean it hurts too much. I’m getting physio and plastic surgery. They say it will help, but [I’m] not really sure the pain will go away.
“The doctors describe the injuries as similar to those of someone being in a motorway crash.”
Ms Aldridge said memories of the incident continue to haunt her. “You kind of don’t feel untouchable any more,” she said. “You feel like you’ve got a target on you and that anything can happen. So you look at things in a different way.”
She and Mr Eveson were set to join many of the 134 victims attending the sentencing for Doyle, 54, at Liverpool Crown Court, which started on Monday. Doyle admitted to 31 charges, including intent to cause grevious bodily harm to Teddy, the youngest victim of the day.
But Ms Aldridge said she did not feel anger towards Doyle, who prosecutors said went into a rage when faced with the crowds of people.
She said: “I don’t think about him at all. He’s not in my thought process. I don’t really know the reason [he did it]. I don’t think we’re going to ever properly know why he did what he did apart from being angry at traffic.
“I haven’t got any feelings towards him, because I just feel if I’m angry then that’s going to affect my day-to-day life, and I’m not going to let that happen.”
