Trump holds call with Zelensky after sending fresh warning to Putin over peace talks

US President Donald Trump has urged European leaders to cease buying Russian oil, which he argued is helping Moscow fund its war in Ukraine.

He also emphasised that Europe “must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts”, a White House official said.

Trump made the remarks during a call with the so-called “Coalition of the Willing”, a group of 30 European nations led by French President Emmanuel Macron, which gathered in Paris on Thursday to discuss further security guarantees for Ukraine.

Following the meeting, which was attended by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron said that 26 countries – including the UK and France – have pledged to deploy troops in Ukraine as a “reassurance force” in the event of a ceasefire.

Despite Zelensky expressing a willingness to talk, a ceasefire agreement is not currently on the table, and it remains unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will agree to a cessation of hostilities. He said on Wednesday that in the absence of a deal, Russia will have to achieve its goals “by military means”.

Vandals target Angela Rayner’s Hove flat in wake of stamp duty scandal

Angela Rayner’s flat has been graffitied with the phrase “tax evader” as the deputy prime minister faces calls to resign after admitting underpaying stamp duty on her Hove property.

Footage from the seaside flat shows the words “tax evader” and “b***h” written in purple, red and yellow lettering. The words can be seen in various sizes across the front of the white wall around her front patio.

An additional message of “Tax evader Rayner” could also be seen graffitied on a construction clipboard nearby.

A spokesperson for Ms Rayner decried the offensive graffiti as “unjustifiable and beyond the pale”.

The spokesperson said: “This vandalism to residents’ homes is totally unjustifiable and beyond the pale.

“Neither Angela nor her neighbours deserve to be subjected to harassment and intimidation.

“It will rightly be a matter for the police to take action as they deem appropriate.”

Ms Rayner has been under mounting pressure in recent weeks after reports emerged she had saved £40,000 in stamp duty on her East Sussex flat by not paying the higher rate reserved for additional home purchases.

Details about the complex property arrangements have continued to emerge since Ms Rayner’s statement on Wednesday, when she had said that a court-instructed trust was established in 2020 following a “deeply personal and distressing incident” involving her son as a premature baby.

He was left with life-long disabilities and to ensure he continued to have stability in the family home in Greater Manchester, she said her family had agreed that its interest in that property would be transferred to the trust.

She said she had put her stake in the constituency home in Ashton-under-Lyne into this trust.

But tax experts have since said the new Hove property could not be treated as her only residence because of the nature of the trust.

On Wednesday she admitted she had made a “mistake” and referred herself to standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus after receiving fresh legal advice that she was liable for the extra duty following headlines about the purchase.

Sources close to Ms Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, have since said she was given three separate pieces of legal advice before buying the £800,000 flat in Hove.

The Conservatives have written to HMRC calling for it to launch its own investigation on whether she tried to evade tax, with party chairman Kevin Hollinrake saying her explanation “cannot withstand scrutiny”.

Ms Rayner’s cabinet colleagues came to her defence during the media rounds on Thursday morning, saying they had “full confidence” in the deputy PM and that she had “sought to be transparent”.

Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday, Ms Reeves said: “I have full confidence in Angela Rayner. She’s a good friend and a colleague she has accepted the right stamp duty wasn’t paid.

“That was an error, that was a mistake. She is working hard now to rectify that, in contact with HMRC to make sure that the correct tax is paid.”

She said the “definitive advice” on the Deputy Prime Minister’s stamp duty arrangements came in on Wednesday morning.

Ms Phillipson said initial follow-up advice “came back on Monday” and that Ms Rayner then applied to have a court order lifted which prevented her speaking about the arrangements.

“She has acted in good faith, sought to act appropriately with the information available to her,” she told Times Radio.

Ms Phillipson said the case was different from sleaze rows under the previous Tory government, of which Ms Rayner was an outspoken critic, adding: “What we saw in some of those cases in the past was a lack of scrutiny and a lack of transparency.

“The Deputy Prime Minister has sought to be transparent, has set out in some detail, which has been difficult given that it relates to her family, extensive information.”

The Independent has contacted Sussex Police for comment

Man whose arrest sparked asylum protests guilty of sexual assault

An asylum seeker hotel resident has been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl just days after arriving in the United Kingdom on a small boat.

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu’s behaviour in July sparked protests and counter-protests in Epping, Essex.

Further demonstrations were held outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country.

During his three-day trial at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, evidence was put forward that he told two teenagers he wanted to “have a baby with each of them” and attempted to kiss them.

He then went on to put his hand on one of the girls’ thighs and stroke her hair, the court heard.

Kebatu was also found to have sexually assaulted a woman by trying to kiss her, putting his hand on her leg, and telling her she was pretty.

Kebatu, who was a “teacher of sports” in his home country, denied all charges against him. He told the court he is “not a wild animal”.

District judge Christopher Williams took just 30 minutes to return his guilty verdicts and his reasoning at on Thursday.

The defendant gave no visible reaction as Mr Williams told him he was guilty of two counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and one count of harassment without violence.

Kebatu is due to be sentenced at a later date.

Kebatu’s trial was told he was offered pizza by the 14-year-old victim shortly before he tried to kiss her on 7 July.

The court heard Kebatu had made inappropriate comments to the girl, such as “come back to Africa, you would be a good wife”, and “do you want to come to the Bell Hotel to have babies then we could go to Kenya with each other”.

The girl told police she “froze” as the defendant sexually assaulted her and had told Kebatu “no, I’m 14” when he spotted her again in Epping the following day.

The court heard his response to the teenager was: “No, no, it doesn’t matter, you could come back to the Bell Hotel with me”.

An adult member of the public was also sexually assaulted by Kebatu on 8 July during an incident in which he touched her leg and tried to kiss her when she offered to help him with his CV.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she felt “shocked” and “uncomfortable” at his behaviour.

The adult victim told the court she confronted Kebatu when she saw him speaking to a “young schoolgirl”.

She said the defendant ran away from the initial confrontation, but she caught up with him near the Bell Hotel while on a 999 call with police.

The woman told the trial: “It was a lot of begging, pleading and apologising, and a lot of ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to go, it was a mistake’ – along those lines.”

Footage of Kebatu’s arrest showed him appear to become tearful after he was handcuffed by an officer, with the defendant eventually getting on his knees on the pavement next to a police car.

Judge Williams told Kebatu to expect a prison sentence.

“You can expect an immediate custodial sentence to be imposed on September 23, it’s just a question of how long any sentence is going to be,” he said.

He asked that a report be prepared about Kebatu before sentencing, noting there was “so little known” about him.

Surgeon ‘obsessed’ with amputation used dry ice to freeze legs

An NHS vascular surgeon who was sexually “obsessed” with becoming an amputee used dry ice to freeze his legs to the point they needed to be removed then claimed £466,653 from his insurers.

Neil Hopper, 49, who carried out hundreds of amputations for patients, has been jailed for 32 months after he admitted to lying to insurers over the removal of his own legs and possessing extreme pornography from a man dubbed the “Eunuch Maker”.

The surgeon told insurers that his injuries were the “result of sepsis and were not self-inflicted”, when in fact he had used dry ice to freeze his legs to the extent they needed to be amputated below the knee.

He then made claims to the insurers which resulted in total payouts of £466,653.81.

Appearing at Truro Crown Court on Thursday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation between 3 June and 26 June 2019.

He also admitted three charges of possessing extreme pornographic images, relating to videos by a website called the Eunuch Maker, where users paid for films of amputations and other extreme body modifications.

Judge James Adkin, the honorary recorder of Truro, heard Hopper was identified following investigations into Marius Gustavson who ran the site.

Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years at the Old Bailey last year for leading an extreme body modification ring, which carried out male castration, penis removal and other procedures on people as young as 16.

The Norwegian national once cooked human testicles to eat in a salad, had his own penis removed with a kitchen knife and froze his own leg so it was amputated.

Gustavson netted more than £300,000 between 2017 and 2021 after posting videos of various procedures on his Eunuch Maker website.

Nicholas Lee, prosecuting, told the court that Hopper had bought three videos from the EunuchMaker.com website for £10 and £35, respectively, showing men willingly having their genitals removed.

He also exchanged around 1,500 messages with Gustavson about his own lower leg amputations and how he had done it, including asking how much dry ice he used.

“It is evident from the messages that Mr Hopper wished to become an amputee and it was always something he had dreamt of,” Mr Lee said.

“Something he has been obsessed with and had a sexual interest in becoming an amputee.”

Gustavson told Hopper he needed to immerse his legs in ice and dry ice for at “least eight hours” and would also require prescription painkillers, which he bought from the dark web.

Investigators later found Hopper had purchased 20kg of dry ice pellets on 14 April 2019, just days before paramedics found him at home with serious injuries to his feet.

Andrew Langdon KC, mitigating, told the court Hopper had grown up in a rural village in Wales and felt he was in the wrong body from a young age.

“He was troubled by his gender, he wanted to be female,” Mr Langdon said, adding that his client identified with body integrity identity disorder and those with a desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs.

Hopper experienced “persistent, never ending” thoughts about having his feet amputated before he decided to cause “irreversible damage to his legs” in April 2019, when his family were staying with his in laws.

“He knows in the days and weeks that followed, he let himself down in the most shameful way,” Mr Langdon said.

The barrister said Hopper insists his thoughts and behaviour have not had an impact on his job and he always tried his best for his patients.

Jailing him for 32 months, Judge Adkin told Hopper he would also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

He said Hopper had “deliberately” frozen his legs following the instructions from Gustavson, before he was admitted to hospital with sepsis in 2019.

“You were in hospital for six weeks and after many tests and a variety of treatments the medics decided your feet could not be saved and they amputated on 17 May,” he said.

“You subsequently made fraudulent insurance claims to Aviva and Old Mutual Wealth receiving a total of £466,000 fraudulently by representing that the injuries were organic, caused by sepsis, when you caused the injury seemingly at least in part for sexual gratification.”

The Crown Prosecution Service will make an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover the money.

Senior prosecutor Richard Parkhouse said: “This is a highly unusual and shocking case which came to light during an investigation into a website selling extreme images of amputations and body modification.

“Hopper has a sexual fetish linked to amputation, and paid to access these images for his own gratification.

“In his communications with the owner of the website, the truth about Hopper’s own injuries was revealed: that the damage that led to his double leg amputations had been self-inflicted. Hopper failed to disclose this fact when making two insurance claims for his injuries, and fraudulently pocketed almost half a million pounds.”

In 2020, Hopper was named one of the bravest people in Britain after winning the Against All Odds title at the Amplifon Awards for Brave Britons 2020, in a virtual ceremony hosted by BBC Breakfast.

The surgeon has not worked at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust since March 2023.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service’s interim orders tribunal placed restrictions on his practice the following month while the General Medical Council investigated, and he has been suspended from the medical register since December 2023.

A hospital trust spokesman added: “The charges do not relate to Mr Hopper’s professional conduct and there has been no evidence to suggest any risk to patients.

“Mr Hopper worked at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals from 2013 until he was suspended from duty in March 2023, following his initial arrest.

“Former patients with any questions or concerns about their treatment can contact the Royal Cornwall Hospitals’ patient experience team.”

More follows on this breaking news story…

Graham Linehan’s posts about trans activist ‘vindictive’, court hears

A transgender activist feared she would fall victim to “vigilante violence” after being the subject of a string of “vindictive” online posts by comedian Graham Linehan, a court has heard.

Sophia Brooks, 18, said she was worried she could be “stabbed” or “beaten up” after Linehan called her a “domestic terrorist” and “sociopath” on X.

The 57-year-old Father Ted creator is on trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He denies a charge of harassing trans woman Ms Brooks on social media between 11-27 October 2024 and also denied a charge of criminal damage of her mobile phone, to the value of £369, on 19 October 2024.

Prosecuting, Julia Faure Walker told the court on Thursday Ms Brooks came to Linehan’s attention after he “linked” her to a protest at a LGB Alliance conference on October 11. She said there was “no evidence” Ms Brooks was involved in an incident where some girls released insects inside the building.

Linehan then posted online a number of times about the complainant after the conference, the court heard.

In a post to the Metropolitan Police X account on October 12, her wrote: “I believe these three men all had knowledge of the recent homophobic attack on a meeting of gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

“Will they take seriously this example of domestic terrorism, in which I believe some silly children were doing the bidding of some very dangerous men.”

On October 13, Linehan posted online that the activist was “behind countless episodes of harassment of women and gay men both online and off”, adding “he is a deeply disturbed sociopath and I believe he had some involvement in Friday’s homophobic attack”.

Giving evidence, Ms Brooks said she was left feeling “worried for her safety” after Linehan posted a picture of her to his half a million followers.

Ms Brooks and Linehan later met outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster on 19 October. Video footage played to the court appeared to show Linehan grabbing Ms Brooks’ phone after she asked him: “Do you think it is acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists?”.

In a separate video shown to the court, he appeared to call her a “sissy porn watching scumbag,” and in a third, Ms Brooks appeared to pose with Linehan as he appeared to call her a “disgusting incel”. In the video, Ms Brooks could be seen to reply: “You’re the incel, you’re divorced”.

When asked by Sarah Vine KC, defending, what she feared from the posts, Ms Brooks said: “Possibly someone acting as a vigilante and stabbing me on the street or beating me up”.

She then replayed the video of Ms Brooks posing with Linehan to the court and suggested she seemed “pleased with herself” when telling Linehan he was an incel. Ms Brooks replied: “Yes”.

When asked if she had been “quite enjoying” it, rather than being “alarmed or distressed,” Ms Brooks insisted she had been alarmed by the posts.

Ms Vine quizzed Ms Brooks over a number of X accounts she used. In one post, the court heard Ms Brooks had tweeted in response to a picture of gender critical activist Posie Parker having soup thrown over her. In the post, she responded to a reply expressing relief it was not acid, writing: “I really wish it was though”.

Ms Vine asked Ms Brooks if this was a “like for like” situation compared with Linehan’s posts referencing her. Ms Brooks denied this, saying her account had around 30 followers, compared to Linehan’s 500,000.

She called it a “single offhand comment” compared to “a month of abuse”.

The court was also shown video footage of a video Ms Brooks appeared in during which she addressed “Terfs” (trans exclusionary radical feminists). In the video, she could be heard to say: “We know who you are and we are cataloging everything that you do. You will pay, I never lose…good luck”.

Ms Brooks said it was a “joke” in reference to a phrase used by Ms Parker, whose real name is Kellie-Jay Nyishie Keen-Minshull. “KJK always says ‘I never lose,” she said. “So I thought I would add, you will pay, I never lose. It was a joke.”

She added it “was not a threat”.

Judge Briony Clarke was forced to issue a warning to the public gallery after audible laughter on several occasions. The trial continues.

The funniest, strangest and best things from this year’s Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe is a place where British eccentrics take centre stage and the country’s weirdest most wonderful talents get to explore the craziest outreaches of their creativity, whether it’s staging immersive theatre in a bathroom, or performing a show on a treadmill.

For all the silliness, though, there’s a seriousness to the whole thing: the Fringe is the breeding ground for Britain’s comedy trendsetters: The Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen first found audiences here and the international phenomena that are Fleabag and Baby Reindeer got their first outings on the stages of the Fringe.

This year, as ever, the festival’s packed schedule sees Edinburgh veterans rubbing shoulders with dozens of emerging voices on the hunt for an audience, many of them willing to perform anywhere from the backroom of a pub to a book shop, or even a bathtub.

The summer of 2025 is looking like it’s going to be a particularly strong year for established heroes of the Fringe. Winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award back in 2009, Tim Key returns to the Fringe with a new show Loganberry, likely to be informed, in part, by his recent experiences starring in the film The Ballad of Wallis Island and appearing as pigeon in Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17. Expect deadpan poems and much hilarity.

Following the success of her smash hit Channel 4 show The Change, about a menopausal woman rediscovering herself in the Forest of Dean, Fringe-favourite and 2013 winner Bridget Christie returns to Edinburgh with a work in progress at the Monkey Barrel. Also showing a work in progress is Ahir Shah, who has pedigree when it comes to licking a show into shape at the festival – when he did so in 2023, he won the main prize. Television presenter and podcaster Nish Kumar is back on his old stomping ground too with a new show Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe at the Gordon Aikman Theatre.

For all the tried-and-tested performers who pretty might guarantee laughs, one of the real joys of the Fringe is to be found in taking a risk on an up-and-coming comedian in the hope you stumble across a star of the future.

In some cases that might mean checking out a Fringe first-timer like Toussaint Douglass, who makes his Edinburgh debut with his hotly-tipped show Accessible Pigeon Material, which promises to be joyfully absurd and very pigeon-heavy in terms of content. Or popping in to see if promising young talents can pull off that tricky second album: having scooped a Best Newcomer gong at last year’s Fringe, Joe Kent-Walters is reprising his gloriously demonic working men’s club owner, Frankie Monroe, at the Monkey Barrel Comedy venue (Cabaret Voltaire).

Also keen to build on a promising start will be Leila Navabi, a television writer from South Wales, whose 2023 musical comedy show Composition included a song about having her ears pierced in Claire’s Accessories. This year, she’s back with Relay, which blends jokes and songs to explore her attempts to make a baby with her girlfriend and a sperm donor.

Whether they’re promising young tyros or established names, for many comedians the creative freedom and outright silliness of the Fringe has them coming back time and time again. Take, for example, Ivo Graham whose show this year is called Orange Crush and is described by the man himself as “a show about hats, haters and hometown heroes, from a man who promised everyone he loved that he wouldn’t do Edinburgh in 2025, but then came back anyway, because he simply had to do this show.”

If you are planning to join Ivo in Edinburgh to soak up the comedy chaos in person, don’t forget provisions. The average Fringe day involves walking 15,000 steps, climbing 43 hills and sitting through at least one show in a sauna-like attic with no ventilation. So, pack accordingly: a bottle of water, a sturdy fan and a packet of Maynards Bassetts Wine Gums or Jelly Babies to keep your blood sugar and national pride intact. Nothing says “I’m here for the arts” quite like chuckling through a late-night experimental mime while chewing on a Jelly Baby’s head.

Now you’re in the know, don’t forget to set the juice loose with Maynards Bassetts – grab a bag today!

Patriotism is more than wearing union jack socks, Mr Farage

I’m not sure what Nigel Farage was thinking when he decided to skip school and go off on a grandstanding jolly to Washington as a kind of Quisling to British interests, but it didn’t work out that well.

Yes, he did get the money shot of a rather stilted photo of him standing next to a seated President Trump in the Oval Office, but we hardly need reminding that he knows Trump. He did not, pointedly, get the full Oval Office photocall treatment with Vance, Rubio et al, plus a gaggle of reporters. This is reserved for proper world leaders, but Trump could have done his friend a favour and pretended he was prime minister-in-waiting.

Farage didn’t get, as far as can be seen, even a handshake recorded by the official photographer. If anything, Farage looked more like the kind of English butler that wealthy Americans used to hire to show off their wealth. Trump certainly didn’t sound off on Truth Social or X about his great friend and how he wants him to be PM. Maybe, given Trump’s massive unpopularity in the UK, that’s just as well from Nigel’s point of view.

Worse than that, his hearing before a Congressional committee on free speech didn’t go as well as Farage might (but shouldn’t) have expected. You don’t have to be Wolf Blitzer to know that about half of a Congressional committee would be hostile Democrats, but Farage, arrogant as ever, thought he could handle them. He couldn’t. He had his “ass”, as they say, handed to him on multiple occasions, and emerged an even smaller man, especially after they found out he’d skived off to an interview with his own propaganda channel, GB News.

Farage was also sporting a GB News badge as a little bit of additional brand marketing, rather than a nice enamel union jack lapel pin, which is off, given that his allies are banging on about raising the flag at every opportunity. Captive, unable to just walk out under tough questioning, deflect onto some whataboutery or say “boring!” like some kid, Farage had to sit there, not interrupt or insult the panel, and take his punishment. It was a delight.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, who could teach our Labour folk a thing or two, stung the “patriot” Farage hard when he told him that if he was so was so worried about the British Online Safety Act, he might have been better advised to make a fuss in the legislature to which he’s been elected, not a foreign one: “He should go and advance the positions he’s taking here in Congress today in parliament, which is meeting today, if he’s serious about it.”

Raskin called Farage a “Putin-loving free speech impostor”, which is as accurate an epigram as any. Farage obviously bristled when Hank Johnson, from Georgia, told him he was “a fringe party leader” who was “here today to impress all of those tech bros”. Even more hurtful was the idea put to Farage that he’d still love to have some of Elon Musk’s money, having to explain to the Americans that he’d had a falling out with Musk, and such lavish funding was going to Reform’s rival Advance, headed by his former Reform deputy leader Ben Habib.

In the past, Farage found that his mixture of faux patriotic bluster, brash posturing, and disdain served him well in the genteel, bovine environment of the European Parliament, but he’s been a flop at Westminster – even when he’s there – and was thoroughly spanked by the Americans. He should have remembered that when Congress wants to, it can destroy even the most determined demagogue, as it once did with Senator Eugene McCarthy, and when it dispatched one Richard Milhous Nixon. Getting above himself and making the absurd claim that the UK has turned into North Korea, Farage was rightly punished for his hubris.

Farage would have been far, far better off attending PMQs, laying into Angela Rayner and capitalising on Kemi Badenoch’s tragically poor performance as leader of the opposition. Instead, Keir Starmer gleefully pointed out the simple, uncomfortable truth about this Farage excursion “to badmouth and talk down our country” and “to lobby the Americans to impose sanctions on this country that will harm working people”.

What did we learn from this episode of Mr Farage Goes to Washington? First, that Farage is vulnerable and that he hates being challenged by a confident, well-briefed interlocutor. In a TV debate or in a media interview, he can be pinned down and exposed for the charlatan he is. In that context, it’s no surprise he spends as little time as possible in the Commons – he’s not up to parliamentary combat, as we’ve already seen with his rare appearances, and he avoids lengthy interrogations. He has rarely been properly held to account in recent times for the damage Brexit has done, why his immigration policies and plans for the NHS are unworkable, and why his economic “policy” makes Liz Truss look cautious.

Second, it gives a little glimpse into what a poor statesman and representative for Britain Farage would be if he got any closer to power – and especially if the Democrats ever get back into power. His fragile ego, mediocre intellect, and sheer ignorance are not what any country needs in its leader.

Third, and most depressingly, it shows that when there’s a choice between his own lust for publicity and fame in the United States and the national interests of the United Kingdom, it is Farage that Farage puts first. He claimed later that he never wanted Trump to sanction Britain for its laws on inciting racial and other hatred, and protecting children from online predators. Yet his own written submission urges the Americans to “declare as US policy that foreign speech restrictions have no effect on Americans acting in the United States and on US-hosted services even if accessed abroad, and instruct the Executive to defend this position in diplomacy and trade fora”.

“Trade fora” being the very discussions on reducing tariffs and expanding the trade deal Starmer and his colleagues are working so hard on – precisely to offset the malign effects of the Brexit Farage campaigned so hard for. A US free trade deal – and a proper, comprehensive one remains far off – is the one thing Farage can claim to be a “Brexit benefit”, yet he’s actively sabotaging it. He is asking the Americans to exert the kind of coercive control over British laws and policy that he accused the European Union of doing for so long. Hardly standing up for British sovereignty, are we, Nigel?

It does rather look, sadly, as if Farage puts himself before his party, and his party before his country. Patriotism and leadership are more than demonising refugees and wearing union jack socks.

Liverpool parade crash suspect Paul Doyle denies dangerous driving

A former Royal Marine accused of ploughing his car into football fans at Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade, injuring 134 people, has denied all 31 charges.

Paul Doyle, 53, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court via video link from prison wearing a grey T-shirt on Thursday as he entered not guilty pleas to allegations relating to 29 victims, aged between six months and 77 years.

He appeared to shake his head at times as each of the charges was put to him and later broke down in tears.

Merseyside Police said 134 people were injured when Mr Doyle allegedly drove his Ford Galaxy Titanium into crowds who were leaving after the city centre parade in May.

He was originally charged with seven offences but at a hearing last month, a further 24 charges were added to the indictment.

Mr Doyle, of Croxteth, Liverpool, is charged with 18 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, nine counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, two counts of wounding with intent, one count of dangerous driving and one count of affray.

The youngest alleged victim is Teddy Eveson, aged six months. Seven other children, who Mr Doyle is alleged to have either injured or attempted to injure, cannot be named for legal reasons.

Hundreds of fans were leaving the waterfront victory parade when the incident occurred on Water Street just after 6pm on 26 May. Up to a million supporters had gathered to celebrate Liverpool’s 20th league title in a 10-mile parade in the city.

The suspect was arrested at the scene, where fire crews worked to rescue several people who were trapped under the car and dozens were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Days later, he was charged with two counts of wounding with intent, two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, two counts of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent and one count of dangerous driving.

It is alleged that Mr Doyle drove dangerously on roads between his home address in Burghill Road and Water Street.

At his first court appearance, Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard he was alleged to have “used his vehicle deliberately as a weapon”.

Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC remanded him in custody for a pre-trial review on 27 October.

The trial, expected to last up to four weeks, is due to begin on 25 November.