Paul Doyle, 54, had convictions for offences of “serious violence” between the ages of 18 and 22 but had stayed out of trouble for 30 years leading up to May 26, when he drove his Ford Galaxy into crowds in Liverpool city centre, investigators said.
The married father-of-three, believed to be an Everton fan, told officers “I’ve ruined my family’s life” when he was arrested after his car was brought to a stop in Water Street.
He had denied the 31 offences he was charged with in connection with the incident until the second day of his trial, when he sobbed as he entered guilty pleas to all of them.
They were not the first violent offences committed by Doyle, who was asked to leave the Royal Marines after convictions.
Details of his previous offences were outlined at his sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday.
In October 1991, at the end of Doyle’s 32-week training period at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, he had what he later described as a “scuffle” with men in a nightclub and, after he was thrown out, punched another person in the face several times.
He was convicted of a section 20 assault and fined by Exeter Magistrates’ Court.
Doyle's car was driven though a crowd on Water Street, Liverpool _(Image: Merseyside Police/PA Wire)_
In February 1992, he was convicted of two military offences – one of using violence to a superior officer and one of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline – and in July that year he was convicted of a military offence equivalent to criminal damage.
Doyle served in the military for four years, starting with the Royal Engineers before enlisting in the Marines in 1991, but did not see active service, the court heard.
He was “discharged with services no longer required” in 1993, 22 months after enlisting, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
He was said to have unsuccessfully challenged the discharge.
In November 1994 while serving with the Royal Marine Reserve, Doyle was jailed for 12 months for causing grievous bodily harm after biting off the ear of another man.
When interviewed earlier this year, Doyle said he had become involved in a drunken fight with sailors.
Following his release from prison in 1995, Doyle was said to have “taken steps to live a positive and productive life”, going to university, working in positions of responsibility and having a family.
James Allison, from CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “He seems to have just been a family man who led a productive life.”
A picture posted in 2017 on Doyle’s now-deleted Facebook account, which used the name Jean-_Paul_ Boyle, showed him and his family posing next to a Donald Duck mascot at what appears to be a Disneyland attraction.
Records on Companies House link Doyle to two businesses – RunCool Limited, of which he was a director, set up in 2016 and dissolved in 2019, and FarOut Caps, an online hat retailer which he launched in 2017 and which dissolved in 2020.
A Facebook page for FarOut Caps, which appears to have been deleted after Doyle was charged, promoted it as an “exclusive online designer brand of headwear worn by Vin Diesel”, with its profile picture apparently showing a Madame Tussaud’s wax statue of the American film star with a cap bearing the words “FarOut” placed on its head.
An account on X linked to Doyle followed 25 profiles, including controversial influencer Andrew Tate, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and world’s richest man Elon Musk.
Many of the posts on the account, with the name FarOutCaps, related to the promotion of cryptocurrency firm SafeMoon.
In May, days before the Liverpool parade crash, SafeMoon chief executive Braden Karony was convicted in a US federal court of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Doyle’s X account appears to have last been used in November 2024 when it responded to a photo of Elon Musk with a thumbs up emoji.
He also appears to be linked to social media accounts sharing memes and videos related to the game Fortnite.
According to a profile on networking site LinkedIn, he held a number of jobs in cyber security and volunteered as an “ethical hacker”.