Paul Doyle was jailed for 21-and-a-half years after driving his Ford Galaxy into crowds of Liverpool FC supporters
10:06, 21 Dec 2025
Paul Doyle
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Paul Doyle was sentenced to 21-and-a-half years in prison over the parade attack(Image: Facebook/Liverpool Echo)
A former football teammate of Paul Doyle has claimed that the Liverpool parade crash driver once "knocked a man out cold" after someone joked about his job at McDonald's.
The individual, who has asked not to be named, revealed he played with Doyle for the Liverpool Christian Life Centre's football team during the mid-1990s and recalled witnessing two contrasting sides to Doyle - at times a "lovely man", at others a "monster".
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, the source explained that the football team wasn't exclusively for church members and that Doyle became involved through sharing a flat with two regular participants. He described Doyle as a "brilliant goalkeeper", though he emphasised that everyone in the squad was "actively aware of his struggles".
CCTV footage of the moment Paul Doyle ploughed into crowds on Water Street
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CCTV footage of the moment Paul Doyle ploughed into crowds on Water Street(Image: Merseyside Police)
He explained: "[Doyle] would explosively react if he was not happy. There were times when the game had to be called off and we had to apologise to the other team. On one occasion, I wasn't there, but I heard a guy who was part of the church made a joke.
"I don't know if Paul was still studying at the time, but he was working as a manager at McDonald's. The guy wasn't having a go at him, he was just messing around, but I heard that Paul knocked him out cold. I was shocked. I felt responsibility and spoke to the guy and had to really apologise."
Doyle was sentenced to 21-and-a-half years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday (December 16) after he ploughed his two-tonne Ford Galaxy into crowds of Liverpool FC fans during the Premier League title-winning parade celebrations in May. The court heard how Doyle used his vehicle as a "weapon", driven by anger due to the number of people obstructing the road.
It has been previously reported that Doyle exaggerated his service in the Royal Marines. During his two-day sentencing hearing, it came to light that Doyle was dismissed from the prestigious commando unit just 22 months after enlisting due to a series of violent incidents, one of which involved his superior officer.
He racked up both civilian and military convictions for offences including common assault and dishonesty. While stationed at the commando training centre in Lympstone, Devon, he repeatedly punched another person in the face during a "nightclub scuffle".
However, Doyle's most shocking prior conviction was for causing grievous bodily harm following an extremely violent incident. The court was informed: "The offences occurred on the 2nd of July 1993 and involved the defendant biting off the ear of another man in a fight.
Two individuals, dressed in formal attire, are seated at a desk inside a control room. One person is facing forward, while the other is looking sideways. The desk is equipped with computer monitors, a keyboard, and various documents. The room features a ceiling with multiple lights and a partially visible monitor in the background.
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Police bodycam footage of Doyle being taken to the custody suite after his arrest(Image: PA)
"When interviewed by the police in connection with the current offences, the defendant explained that he had become involved in a drunken fight with sailors."
Doyle, who was a member of the Royal Marines Reserve at the time of the offence, was handed a 12-month prison sentence. Liverpool Crown Court heard that all of Doyle's previous convictions took place between his 18th and 22nd birthdays.
Upon his release from prison in 1994, it's reported that Doyle made significant changes to his life, enrolling at the University of Liverpool to study psychology and maths, before embarking on a successful career in cyber security in 1999.
It's understood that shortly after completing his university studies, Doyle briefly worked as a graduate manager at a fast food chain.
A person who knew Doyle during the 1990s shared: "We knew about his early years. The fact he had major, major problems. They became our problems as well when he started to come to the church. But we also saw the other side of him.
"I regularly saw a really nice man. It's so sad that there was such a lovely man there, but also a monster as well. I felt a responsibility for him at the time. I always knew I was out of my depth. When I saw the news and saw it was Paul, it was a worst-case scenario. He can't change what he did. He's made a huge mistake that he now has to live with."
Despite his violent past in the 1990s, Doyle managed to steer clear of legal trouble for over three decades. He got married, became a father to three children and led an exemplary life, focusing on fitness and his IT career.
Doyle was known to his neighbours as "Mr Healthy Dude". One commented: "He meditates, doesn't drink and he would go out on the grass outside in his bare feet to ground himself. He was a fit guy. He hasn't drunk for as long as I have known him."
Fellow residents of Burghill Road, a respectable, tree-lined cul-de-sac in Croxteth where Doyle lived, described him as a "family man, a really good neighbour, a friendly guy". However, these memories will provide little comfort to the 134 men, women and children he ploughed into during the parade.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC informed the court that Doyle had "taken steps to live a positive and productive life" after being released from prison. He added: "Those efforts to rehabilitate himself after a difficult early adulthood only serve to make more shocking, and tragic what he did in Liverpool that day this May."
Paul Doyle appears at Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing on 31 offences
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Court sketch of Doyle's sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)
The court was told that Doyle's actions were not motivated by extremist ideology, nor was he under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and his vehicle was functioning correctly. Mr Greaney instead suggested that Doyle had simply "lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to".
Mr Greaney went on to say: "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."
The most damning evidence against Doyle was his own dashcam footage. The distressing video, deemed too graphic for public viewing, recorded Doyle shouting "f***ing move" as he drove his car into the crowd gathered on Water Street.
Upon impact, victims were hurled into the air, while others vanished beneath the front bumper of his vehicle.
The car was finally stopped due to the brave actions of ex-soldier Daniel Barr, who managed to jump into the back seat of the Ford Galaxy and shift the automatic gearbox into "park".
The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC, said: "The footage is truly shocking. It is difficult, if not impossible, to convey in words alone the scene of devastation you caused. It shows you, quite deliberately, accelerating into groups of fans time and time again.
Paul Doyle
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Doyle was previously jailed for a year in 1993 for a biting a sailor's ear off(Image: Merseyside Police)
"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.
"You accelerated forwards and backwards repeatedly. Several victims became trapped beneath the vehicle as you continued to move it. Others were thrown into the air or propelled across the ground. A number of witnesses, including serving police officers, describe you continuing to press the accelerator, even when people were visibly underneath the car. Your shouted expressions of frustration underline your state of mind at the time, not fear or panic but an inexplicable and undiluted fury."
The judge added: "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."
James Allison, a specialist prosecutor from CPS Mersey Cheshire's complex casework unit, said: "In seven minutes of dangerous driving, Doyle, a middle-aged family man, used that vehicle as a weapon hitting more than one hundred people, including children, babies and the elderly. When it eventually ended, he had trapped some of them underneath his vehicle.
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"He not only injured many people, but he also generated horror and chaos on what was meant to be a day of celebration and joyfulness. The reason why he did it? The truth is as simple as it is awful, Paul Doyle lost his temper and, in a rage, drove into people, intending to cause them serious harm."
Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald, the senior investigating officer from Merseyside Police, added: "On what should have been a day of celebration for the city, Doyle chose to act in an aggressive and dangerous manner with no regard for the safety and wellbeing of other people.
"No prison sentence will be able to undo his actions on that day or heal those who continue to suffer physically and psychologically as a result of what they endured and witnessed on the streets of the city."