Ex-marine faces long jail term after mowing down 134 parade-goers
A former marine has pleaded guilty to driving into Liverpool FC victory parade crowds, injuring 134 people.
The Liverpool FC Premier League victory parade had just come to an end when the father of three drove his two-tonne family car into the crowds, turning a moment of jubilation into one of terror.
He was not drunk, nor high on drugs, and later inspections of his grey Ford Galaxy found no significant defects. So why did Paul Doyle, a married IT professional, accelerate towards pedestrians in May, injuring 134 people?
The Times understands that the former marine, who changed his pleas to guilty moments before his trial was due to begin yesterday (Wednesday), had planned to defend his behaviour by stating he had acted in a blind panic. After his arrest, he told police he had been in fear for his life from angry bystanders, who were filmed remonstrating with him for driving down a city centre street closed to traffic. He claimed to have seen one man holding a knife.
Yet prosecutors, it is understood, were poised to argue that Doyle, 54, was simply enraged. Lawyers intended to prove how in his determination to get through the crowd, the driver had been prepared to cause deliberate harm to men, women and children who found themselves in his way.
Wearing a dark suit and tie, Doyle sobbed in the dock at Liverpool crown court as he admitted 31 charges, in front of victims and members of his family. His offences, which included dangerous driving, grievous bodily harm and affray, relate to two babies, six children and 21 adults, aged between six months and 77 years old at the time of the attack.
The jury of seven men and five women, which had only been sworn in the day before, were discharged from their duties while the defendant was remanded into custody. Doyle, who had been described as a “role-model father” and “very sensible family man” by those who knew him, was told to expect a lengthy custodial sentence.
Police said it was “only by sheer luck” that nobody was killed.
At about 12.30pm on May 26, Paul Doyle drove from his home in Croxteth, a suburb of Liverpool, into the city centre to drop off his friend and their children, who were joining hundreds of thousands of football fans celebrating Liverpool FC’s 20th title. He returned home shortly before 1.35pm. That journey was noticeably more aggressive, involving lane-jumping and undertaking, but was otherwise unremarkable.
It was on his way to collect his friend later that Doyle committed a series of offences over seven minutes, which prosecutors have described as “an act of calculated violence”. His movements were later reconstructed using CCTV and dashcam footage.
At 5.54pm, Doyle turned onto Dale Street, near where the players’ open-top bus had just finished its route, and began driving against the flow of dispersing crowds. He then ignored traffic-control measures and tailgated an ambulance down a street closed to cars.
Pedestrians confronted Doyle, and prosecutors said he became “increasingly agitated by the crowds”. “Rather than wait for them to pass, he deliberately drove at them, forcing his way through,” Sarah Hammond, the chief crown prosecutor, said.
Doyle later claimed he followed the ambulance only because people were being aggressive towards him, that he panicked and feared he would be dragged from his car and stabbed. It is understood prosecutors intended to tell the court that police found no evidence of anyone with a knife.
Footage then showed Doyle accelerating into screaming fans, several of whom were flung into the air.
By the time he was pulled from the car, Doyle had driven into 134 people. Four people, including two children and a 77-year-old, were found trapped beneath the vehicle. At least two pedestrians required surgery.
Doyle’s neighbours were astounded when they learnt that the driver behind the attack was the “normal Liverpool dad” who lived in a detached pounds 300,000 four-bedroom home in a cul-de-sac. His wife, a teacher, was said to have been shocked when she recognised her family car on the news bulletins.
A Royal Marine commando in the 1990s, according to his social media, Doyle later built a successful career in cybersecurity and volunteered in his spare time as an “ethical hacker”.
Remanding him into custody, ahead of sentencing on December 15, the judge Andrew Menary said: “It is inevitable that there will be a custodial sentence of some length.”
THE TIMES
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