The former Royal Marine plowed his car into a crowd of Liverpool fans celebrating their Premier League win in May, injuring more than 130 people.
Published December 16, 2025
A British driver who crashed his car into a crowd of Liverpool football fans during May’s victory parade, injuring more than 130 people, has been sentenced to 21-and-a-half years in prison.
Prosecutors said Paul Doyle, 54, was simply angry and drove his minivan into a crowd of fans in Liverpool. Last month, he pleaded guilty to nine charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.
“The footage is truly shocking,” Judge Andrew Menary said on Tuesday.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to convey in words alone the devastation you have caused. It shows that you are deliberately accelerating into groups of fans time and time again,” he told Doyle.
Dashcam footage from the vehicle played in court showed the shocking moment fans, both adults and children, were thrown onto the bonnet of the car or onto the ground as it accelerated down a closed road.
“The act of driving a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians with such persistence and disregard for human life defies normal understanding,” the judge said.
Ms Doyle sobbed in Liverpool Crown Court over the two-day sentence as prosecutors used graphic video footage to detail the May 26 crime.
The former Royal Marine said he was furious because he couldn’t get to his destination fast enough to pick up a family friend who was taking part in the parade.
“The defendant is horrified by his actions,” lawyer Simon Szoka told the court. “He is remorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry for all those he has hurt and suffered.”
The victims named in the indictment range in age from 6-month-old Teddy Ebson, whose stroller was thrown into the air in the accident, to 77-year-old Susan Passey.
During the sentencing hearing, statements from 78 of Doyle’s victims were read out in court, with one woman telling Doyle: “Please stop sitting in the dock and crying for yourself.”
Mothers described the horror of seeing their children hit by cars. A 16-year-old boy who was constantly awake due to nightmares lost his woodworker’s apprenticeship because he couldn’t concentrate. A 23-year-old man had to learn how to walk again.
“An enraged man”
On the day of the incident, Doyle’s car only stopped when a fan named Dan Barr got into the back seat of the car and put the gearstick in park mode.
Doyle, who has previous convictions for violent acts including biting off a sailor’s ear in the 1990s, continued to try to accelerate the car, but was unable to proceed any further.
No defects were found in the car and Mr Doyle was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney said: “He was a man who was furious and his anger took over completely.”
Mr Doyle, who was seen on video yelling and yelling at his supporters to move, initially denied the charges.
