An ex-Royal Marine with a violent past drove at crowds at Liverpool’s victory parade in “undiluted fury” in a terrifying attack – and then lied to police he had acted in fear of his own life.
Horrific dashcam footage from Paul Doyle's Ford Galaxy showed the 54-year-old use the 1.9-tonne vehicle as a weapon, knocking down more than 100 people at last May's event.
Accelerating into a crowd, victims became trapped under the car, while others were thrown into the air or propelled across the ground, including a six-month-old baby.
Doyle, who it emerged has a previous conviction for serious assaults that prompted him to be thrown out of the Marines, had claimed he feared for his life, but Judge Andrew Menary KC, jailing him for 21 years and six months, said his accounts were false.
It came on a dramatic day in court where:
- It was revealed Doyle had previously bitten part of a man’s ear off in a “drunken fight with sailors” 32 years ago
- Hero ex-soldier Daniel Barr, who stopped Doyle’s car, was given a High Sheriff’s Award for his bravery
- Victims, including a woman who fled the war in Ukraine, bravely shared the lasting trauma inflicted by Doyle
- Doyle showed no reaction when he was sent to his cell after sentencing
Delivering his sentence at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Menary, told Doyle it was “impossible to comprehend any right-thinking person could act as you did”. He added: “To drive into crowds of pedestrians with such persistence and disregard for human life defies ordinary understanding.”
Describing the dashcam footage from Doyle’s vehicle, shown to the court on Monday, as “truly shocking”, Judge Menary said it was difficult to put into words the scene of devastation as thousands gathered to celebrate Liverpool FC winning the Premier League.
“You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the bonnet, drove over limbs, crushed prams, and forced those nearby to scatter in terror,” the judge told Doyle, who appeared at times to sob during the remarks.
“You ploughed on, at speed and over a considerable distance, violently knocking people aside or simply driving over them. Person after person after person,” he added.
During the judge’s statement, which came at the end of a two-day sentencing, some of the victims, who filled the public gallery in the court, wrapped their arms around each other. Others wiped away tears from their eyes.
-(1).png)
A total of 134 people were injured when Doyle ploughed into the crowds, with 71, including the eldest victim, 77-year-old Susan Passey, providing moving victim impact statements that were read out inside a tense courtroom.
Doyle had pleaded guilty to 31 offences relating to the victory parade on the second day of his trial last month, with the evidence against him “overwhelming”, said Judge Menary.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC had said Doyle, who was picking up a friend from the parade, had gone into a rage and driven at the crowds with the intention of causing harm.
His own dashcam footage captured him cutting through a gap in traffic cones to head into the closed-off Water Street, where he knocked down horrified pedestrians, while screaming “f***ing move”.
Only because of “hero” ex-soldier Daniel Barr, who jumped in the back seat of the vehicle and put the automatic gear stick into “park”, was the vehicle brought to a standstill, partly also because of the injured bodies that lay under it.
Mr Barr, who sat in court during the sentencing, was singled out for his “outstandingly brave” actions by Judge Menary, who gave him a High Sheriff’s Award for Bravery and £250. Victims warmly embraced the 41-year-old after the hearing.
The packed court, which is just an eight-minute walk from Water Street, heard how, on arrest, Doyle told police “I’ve just ruined my family’s life,” before claiming he had acted in panic and fear for his life due to the crowd’s behaviour.
Judge Menary called the claim “demonstrably false”. He said Doyle’s swearing “underlined your state of mind at the time – not fear or panic, but an inexplicable and undiluted fury”.
The judge jailed him for 21 years and six months. He also disqualified him from driving for three years after his release, on the calculation that he was to serve two-thirds of his prison term in custody.
Victims gave whispered cheers when the sentence was delivered. Sheree Aldridge, mother of baby Teddy Eveson, who miraculously survived being flung in his pram 15ft along the road by Doyle’s vehicle, told The Independent it was a moment of “justice for the families”.
The 37-year-old, who suffered life-changing injuries to her leg, said: “I hope he has the time to reflect on all those people he hurt, not just physically but the psychological side... losing jobs, money issues and mental health.”
Anna Bilonozhenko, who had fled the war in Ukraine and suffered a serious fracture to her left knee, wrote in her victim impact statement read out in court: “We came to this country because of the war in our homeland, hoping to finally feel safe. At first, we did. But now that feeling has been taken away. Realising that is deeply painful – it feels like losing our safety all over again.”
The mother of an 11-year-old boy dragged under the front of Doyle’s car said: “He wakes up crying, reliving the incident.”
Judge Menary told Doyle: “The overall harm is exceptional not only in the sheer number of victims and the seriousness of their injuries, but also in the depth, duration and human reach of the trauma you inflicted.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, it also emerged that Doyle had previous convictions for serious assaults, including causing grievous bodily harm in an incident in 1993 when he bit the ear of a man. Asked about the offence in an interview, Doyle had told police it was a “drunken fight with sailors”.
Newspaper cuttings from the time told how Doyle grappled with his victim on the floor before sinking teeth into his ear and biting the top part off during the incident at a service station on the M6 in Lancashire.
The conviction, which resulted in a 12-month prison sentence, followed an offence in a nightclub where Doyle told officers he had “got the better” of men during a brawl after being kicked out of the venue.
Doyle also committed military offences, including using violence on a superior officer while serving in the Royal Marines. He was discharged after just 22 months’ service after the nightclub attack.
Speaking after Doyle was sentenced, Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald said the case was the most extensive investigation in Merseyside Police’s history, with it taking more than 700 statements and viewing 280 pieces of footage.
He said: “It is difficult to comprehend the devastating impact the events of that day have had, and continue to have, on so many people.”
James Allison, from the Crown Prosecution Service Mersey-Cheshire, said: “Why did he do it? I think the simple answer is he lost his temper. He went into a rage.
“He just wanted to get down that road, and in trying to get down that road those next couple of minutes probably devastated a lot of people’s lives.”
