A former Royal Marine has been sentenced to more than two decades in prison for a horrifying vehicular attack on crowds celebrating a Liverpool Football Club victory parade earlier this year.
A 'Truly Shocking' Act of Violence
Paul Doyle, 54, from Aintree, was jailed for 21 years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court for deliberately driving his two-tonne Ford Galaxy into supporters. The incident occurred on 26 May during the club's victory parade in the city centre. Judge Andrew Menary KC described Doyle's actions as causing "horror and devastation on a scale not previously experienced by this court".
Merseyside Police stated it was a "miracle" no one was killed. Dash-cam footage revealed Doyle accelerated aggressively into the crowd, striking 134 people in just two minutes. The victims ranged in age from six months to 77 years old and included 21 adults and eight children. Many suffered life-altering injuries, and countless others were left deeply traumatised.
Claims of 'Blind Panic' Disproved by Evidence
Doyle had pleaded guilty to 31 offences on the first day of his trial last month. He initially told police he acted in a "blind panic", claiming he feared for his life after allegedly seeing a fan with a knife. However, detectives thoroughly disproved this assertion.
Judge Menary stated the vehicle's footage clearly showed Doyle was not acting out of fear, but from "an inexplicable and undiluted fury". The court heard audio of Doyle shouting obscenities such as "fucking pricks" and "get out my fucking way" as he ploughed into screaming fans. A police officer present described the noise of impact as "sickening".
"You struck people head on, knocked others onto the bonnet, crushed prams and forced others to scatter in terror," the judge told Doyle, who bowed his head in the dock. "You ploughed on at speed, violently knocking people aside or running over them, person after person after person."
Heroic Intervention and Lasting Trauma
The rampage was finally halted by former soldier Dan Barr, who bravely climbed into a rear passenger seat and held the car's gear selector in "park". Even then, Doyle kept his foot pressed on the accelerator. When subsequently dragged into a police van through a swarm of angry fans, Doyle told officers: "I've just ruined my family's life."
The emotional impact on victims was profound. The court heard one of those injured was a survivor of the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack. Francesca Massey, 24, said the parade had "reopened emotional wounds", bringing back vivid and overwhelming memories of terror from eight years prior. "I feel like I have been set back again, as it reawakened previous trauma," she said.
Simon Csoska KC, defending, said Doyle was "horrified, remorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry". He described Doyle's actions as "incomprehensible" to friends who knew him as kind and selfless, and argued the attack was not premeditated. However, he acknowledged that serious injury was inevitable once Doyle continued to drive.
It was revealed Doyle had a history of convictions in the early 1990s, including one for biting off a man's ear in a pub fight, but had not been in trouble with police for three decades prior to this attack. Judge Menary concluded Doyle's "disregard for human life defies ordinary understanding," as he passed the lengthy custodial sentence.
