EXCLUSIVE Liverpool parade suspect's wife found out about horror 'when she saw her car on the news': Details of middle-class father's life are revealed after dozens hurt in 'car attack'

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

The wife of the man who drove his car into fans at Liverpool's victory parade found out about the horror 'when she saw her car on the TV news'.
The 53-year-old business-owning triathlete, who is married with three teenage children, lives in a smart £300,000 four-bedroomed detached property on a neat estate, the Mail can reveal.
Neighbours of the company director described him as a 'family man' with 'well-behaved children' who must have 'panicked in the moment'.
However, one neighbour speaking to the Sun claimed: 'She [the wife] first realised when she saw it was her car on the telly, when she saw it being driven at the parade.
'The normal police cars turned up at teatime then Matrix van turned up later that night.'
Yesterday evening he was still being held in a Merseyside police station on suspicion of multiple attempted murders, driving under the influence of drugs and dangerous driving after detectives were given an extension to question him further.
He was arrested on Monday after a Ford Galaxy people carrier ploughed through a crowd of fans in the city centre.
Seven people remained in hospital last night but were said to be recovering. Several children were injured in the carnage.
When police arrived at the suspect's home soon after the horror, neighbours assumed the family had been victims of a burglary.
'It's completely out of character,' one said. 'They are a nice family, the boys are well behaved. He is a fantastic guy. He came over to help us once when our alarm went off. I know he did the same for our immediate neighbours, too.
'It just doesn't make any sense. Maybe he's had some kind of a breakdown, maybe he just panicked in the moment?
'The family is lovely. The whole thing is so sad – for his wife and children and for all those people who were hurt and injured.'
Another local added that he was a 'nice guy' and a 'family man'. A family friend said it was 'not the man we know'.
According to social media, the sports enthusiast attended a local university and his wife of 20 years has also regularly posted happy pictures of the family enjoying holidays abroad, including to Disneyland.
Yesterday, two police vans were parked outside their home. There was no answer at the well-kept property in a quiet cul-de-sac in the suburb of West Derby, north-east of the city centre.
Some 79 people were injured, with 50 needing hospital treatment, when a grey Ford Galaxy tailgated an ambulance, which was responding to reports of a fan having a heart attack, through a roadblock on Monday.
The Premier League-winning Reds had paraded their trophy along the waterfront, in front of the city's famous Royal Liver building, just moments earlier and thousands of supporters were making their way home, to train stations or to bars to continue the celebrations.
A flat-bed truck, which was being used to cordon off the street, had been moved by private contractors to let the emergency services through, police revealed.
Shocking video footage posted online shows supporters banging on the car's windows before it accelerated and hit fans at speed, causing several to be catapulted off the bonnet and leaving four trapped under its wheels.
Officers were on the scene within seconds and arrested the driver, who has been in custody ever since. Detectives were yesterday granted extra time and have until tomorrow to question him.
The incident is not being treated as terrorism, officers confirmed.
Jack Trotter, who escaped with injuries to his leg and back, feared his young son would become fatherless as the Ford Galaxy bore down on him
The Times reported yesterday that 'horrific' dashcam footage from the Ford Galaxy was being studied by investigators.
Among those injured was Daniel Eveson, who saw his five-month-old son's buggy dragged 15ft in the carnage.
Mr Eveson, 36, from Telford, Shropshire, said it was nothing 'short of a miracle' that the family all survived unscathed.
Referring to his son, Ted, he said: 'He's our miracle. He's 'Super Ted'. I keep crying every time I hold him. I can't believe we've still got him.' His fiancée, Sheree Aldridge, also 36, is recovering after the car ran over her leg.
Mr Eveson told The Mirror: 'I held the pram but it was taken out of my hands and my hands went on the bonnet to try and stop the car. Then Sheree went up on the bonnet, dropped off and then went under the car.'
Detective Superintendent Rachel Wilson, of Merseyside Police, said: 'I'm pleased to say that the number [of injured in hospital] is reducing as they continue to recover from the awful incident.'
She said detectives were still working to establish the precise circumstances of what happened, adding: '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.'
The force said a 'robust' traffic management system was in place and Water Street had been closed as part of a rolling roadblock when the team's open-top bus passed by the end of the road.
It came as the head of the Metropolitan Police force said suspects' details should be made public even if it 'emboldens' racists.
Sir Mark Rowley said forces will more often have to release personal details about suspects earlier, after Merseyside Police confirmed the ethnicity of the suspect in the Liverpool parade carnage within hours.
Two hours after the incident, it said it had arrested a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area.
The same force was criticised after the Southport murders last summer for not releasing more information after false rumours started online that the killer was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Sir Mark 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.'
Sir Mark 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.'