The 54-year-old was today jailed for 21-and-a-half years after causing scenes of carnage at Liverpool FC's Premier League victory parade
These are the moments that Paul Doyle ran a red light and undertook other vehicles at speed on his journey into Liverpool city centre before he ploughed his car into crowds of fans during Liverpool FC’s title parade. The 54-year-old, of Burghill Road in West Derby, was said to have driven "aggressively and dangerously" well before he sparked scenes of chaos on Water Street as he collected a friend who had been attending the celebrations on May 26 this year.
More than 100 pedestrians, ranging from babies to a 78-year-old woman, were then injured after being struck by the Ford Galaxy shortly after 6pm on that Bank Holiday Monday as what was meant to be a day of joy turned into scenes of devastation and terror. Fifty casualties required hospital treatment in the aftermath of the appalling incident, although they were later discharged.
Doyle admitted a total of 31 charges in relation to the incident last month, with his guilty pleas coming on the day he was due to stand trial. He returned to Liverpool Crown Court today, Tuesday, and was jailed for 21-and-a-half years.
Merseyside Police have now released footage from Doyle's own dashcam, which shows speeding through a junction several seconds after the traffic lights had turned red while en route into the city centre. A further video then shows him moving into the left hand lane on Byrom Street in order to undertake stationary traffic before moving back across the lanes in order to right into Dale Street.
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, said of this driving: "This conduct is far from the most culpable that the defendant engaged in that day. But it demonstrates that the safety of others was far from the priority of Paul Doyle, even at that early stage."
Mr Greaney also told the court on Monday: “On the 27th of April 2025, Liverpool FC beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 to reach a points total in the Premier League that was unassailable. In becoming champions, the club achieved its 20th title.
“The city of Liverpool wished to celebrate the club’s achievement, and a parade was therefore arranged for the 26th of May 2025, the spring bank holiday. This was to involve the players and staff travelling in an open top bus on a route that started at Allerton Maze in South Liverpool and travelled through the suburbs of the city before ending outside the Liver Building on the Strand, next to the River Mersey.
"Hundreds of thousands of people, probably about a million in total, attended to watch and cheer. To begin with, this was a day of great joy. Following its arrival, many of those who had waited on the Strand to cheer began to walk up Water Street towards Dale Street in order to make their way home. The road therefore became extremely busy with pedestrians who were spread across both pavements and the road.
“As the parade was finishing, the defendant, Paul Doyle, was driving his grey Ford Galaxy Titanium from his home into central Liverpool in order to pick up friends who had attended the parade. His vehicle weighed nearly two tonnes.
“The defendant drove the Galaxy onto Dale Street at 5.54pm and began to travel in the direction of Water Street, so on a course opposite from the direction of travel of most of the fans and towards them. From an early stage, Paul Doyle drove dangerously along that road, frightening people as he did so.
"Then at 5.59pm, he encountered some traffic implementation measures that were filtering vehicles off to the right. He came to halt, but, shortly afterwards, set off down the left side of Dale Street towards Water Street, ignoring the measures.
"By 6.01pm, less than two minutes later, the Galaxy was stationary on Water Street, and attempts were being made by fans to drag Paul Doyle from it. He was quickly protected by police officers, and thereafter arrested and detained, having sustained only minor injuries.
“What had happened in that short period between 5.59 pm and 6.01pm is that the defendant had driven his vehicle into a collision with well over 100 people, causing injuries including serious injuries to many and, when the vehicle was brought to a halt, people including children were trapped beneath it.
"The prosecution case is that the defendant had used the vehicle as a weapon over that period of time. In doing so, he not only caused injury on a large scale, but also generated horror in those who had attended what they had thought would be a day of joyfulness.
"It is important at the outset to explain what did not cause Paul Doyle, then a 53-year-old family man who lived a short distance from the city centre to behave in this way. At the time of these events, some at the scene thought that what was taking place was a terrorist attack, with the driver utilising a vehicle to attack in a way that has occurred before; for example, during the London Bridge attack on the 3rd of June 2017.
“That is not what occurred. Paul Doyle’s actions were, the prosecution is entirely satisfied, not driven by ideology. This was, it should be categorically stated, not a terrorist attack.
“So, was what happened the result of some defect in the vehicle? Did the brakes fail or the vehicle suddenly accelerate without any intervention by the driver? Paul Doyle has never suggested that happened, and expert investigation by the police has excluded any problem with the vehicle as having caused or contributed to what occurred. So, that is not the explanation.
“Was Paul Doyle drunk or high on drugs? Again, the prosecution is able to give a definitive answer to that question. He was not. At the time that he drove into and over 100 people, Paul Doyle was completely sober, and free of all drugs.
“So, why did the defendant behave in such an extraordinary and harmful way on Dale Street and Water Street? Paul Doyle claimed, when subsequently interviewed by the police, that he acted as he did in a blind panic and in fear of his life because of how some in the crowd had behaved towards him. The position of the prosecution is that this account given by the defendant to the investigators was untrue.
“The truth is a simple one. Paul Doyle just lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to. In a rage, he drove into the crowd. When he did so, he intended to cause people within the crowd serious harm. He was prepared to cause those in the crowd, even children, serious harm if necessary to achieve his aim of getting through. The truth is as simple as the consequences were awful."
Doyle's counsel Simon Csoka KC meanwhile said on his behalf this afternoon that his client was "horrified by the consequences of what he did". The defence silk added: "He is remorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry for all those who were hurt or suffered. He accepts full responsibility. He expects no sympathy. Nevertheless, it is important that we emphasise his remorse.
"The paradox of that day is that he was doing a favour for a friend. It was an ordinary day. He did not have any motive, in the ordinary sense, to cause serious injury, nor did he have a desire in the ordinary sense to cause serious injury. This is a case where the consequence of his decisions was that serious injury was a virtual certainty, and it was foreseen by him. It was not a case where there was a motive and desire to cause serious injury.
"The defendant recognises that it is fortunate the consequences of his actions were not as grave as they might have been. His actions were not planned. His conduct has been difficult for him to understand and accept. It has taken him several months for him to recognise, mentally, what he did. He is appalled by his own conduct. The spiralling effect of his conduct was utterly unexpected for him and utterly unexpected for all those who know him well.
"The court has been provided with a large number of character references. He was very active in his community. He has engaged on a number of occasions with charity fundraising activities. All of those people speak of a kind, generous and selfless man. It is part of the paradox of this case that how they know him is so different to the way he behaved.
"They all find his actions incomprehensible and so utterly unlike the man that they know. Again, perhaps that fed into the difficulty in the defendant coming to recognise and accepting what he did. We can only emphasise again the deep sorrow and shame that the defendant feels. We accept that those are only words, and it will provide no comfort to those who were hurt and those who suffered."
The charges Doyle admitted included 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. The complainants in these matters were named as six-month-old Teddy Eveson, other boys and girls aged seven months, 10, 11, 13, as well as adults Jack Trotter, Jon Evans, Scott Dolan, Ashton Gilmore, Jacqueline McClaren, Jamie Fagan, Carl Martin, James Vernon, Emily Wright, David Price, James Weston and Ethan Gillard.
A further nine charges which he pleaded guilty to stated that he caused grievous bodily harm with intent to Helen Gilmore, Anna Bilonozhenko, Sheree Aldridge, Sam Alexander, Hannah O’Neill, Stefan Dettlaf, Christine Seeckts, Susan Passey and Aaron Cothliff. He finally faced sentence for three offences of wounding with intent against a 12-year-old boy, Simon Nash and Robin Darke, as well as matters of affray and dangerous driving.
The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC told him in his sentencing remarks: "You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the bonnet, drove over limbs, crushed prams and forced those nearby to scatter in terror. You ploughed on, at speed and over a considerable distance, violently knocking people aside or simply driving over them, person after person after person.
"Several victims became trapped beneath the vehicle as you continued to move it. Others were thrown into the air or propelled across the ground. Your shouted expressions of frustration underline your state of mind at the time, not fear or panic but an inexplicable and undiluted fury.
"It is almost impossible to comprehend how any right-thinking person could act as you did. To drive a vehicle into crowds of pedestrians with such persistence and disregard for human life defies ordinary understanding.
"You claimed in police interviews to have acted in panic and fear for your life due to the crowd's behaviour. That account was demonstrably false. The position should be stated clearly. The crowd did not cause this incident. They reacted to it.
"Those actions were not acts of aggression. They were acts of fear. The chaos that unfolded was caused solely by your driving, and any attempt to place responsibility on the public or the Liverpool supporters present would be unfair and wholly unfounded.
"Your actions caused horror and devastation on a scale not previously encountered by this court. Parents and children, police officers, grandparents, students, tourists and passers by were all caught up in events which many believed, in the moment, to be a mass casualty terror attack.
"What should have been a day of communal celebration has instead left a lasting legacy of fear, injury and loss across this community. 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.
"Families were separated in the chaos. Parents were convinced their children had been killed. Children saw their parents unconscious or bleeding, and many people searched desperately for loved ones, not knowing whether they were alive.
"The offences you have admitted were not the result of momentary recklessness or a panicked reaction. The truth, as captured on your own dashcam and multiple CCTV and mobile phone recordings, is that you lost your temper in a rage, determined to force your way through the crowd, regardless of the consequences. By your pleas of guilty, you admit that you intended to cause serious harm to achieve that end, even to children."