Paul Doyle was jailed for biting off the ear of a sailor during a drunken brawl. The Liverpool FC parade crash perpetrator has a number of military and civilian criminal convictions from the early 1990s, including a sickening assault which saw him handed an immediate custodial sentence.
The 54-year-old, of Burghill Road in West Derby, admitted a total of 31 charges last month, having driven his car into crowds of fans during the celebrations earlier this year. More than 100 pedestrians, ranging from babies to a 78-year-old woman, were injured after being struck by the Ford Galaxy on Water Street in Liverpool city centre shortly after 6pm on Monday, May 26, as what was meant to be a day of joy turned into scenes of devastation and terror.
Doyle changed his pleas to guilty on the day he was due to go on trial and returned to Liverpool Crown Court in order to be sentenced today, Tuesday. Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, previously told the court that he had "driven aggressively and dangerously" on his way into the city centre before using his car "as a weapon" as he ploughed into crowds of terrified LFC fans.
The court then turned to his previous convictions, dating back to when Doyle had served with the Royal Engineers and then with the Royal Marines as a younger man and being "interwoven with his military service". Mr Greaney said Doyle did not see active service during his time in either the Marines or Engineers, and the prosecution added: "There is a strong public interest in the public understanding that the evidence reveals no link between the defendant's military service and his crimes."
Mr Greaney said: "The defendant enlisted in the Royal Marines on the 11th of March 1991, at the age of 19, following a short period in the Royal Engineers. He signed up for 22 years' service in the Marines, but with the right to give 18 months' notice from 11th September 1993.
"That meant that the earliest he should have been capable of leaving the Marines was 11th March 1995, four years after he joined. In the event, the defendant was discharged on 20th January 1993, just 22 months after enlisting, so more than two years before the earliest point at which he ought to have left.
"Neither during his period in the Royal Engineers nor during his period in the Royal Marines did the defendant see active service. The defendant was discharged from the Royal Marines on a basis that is commonly referred to as 'SNLR' or 'Services No Longer Required'. In other words, the Royal Marines no longer wished to retain him.
"The service records reveal that the defendant challenged his SNLR discharge, but was unsuccessful in doing so. Understanding the reason why the defendant was discharged takes us to his convictions."
The court then heard that Doyle has both civilian and service convictions, beginning in December 1989 when he committed a military offence that equated to common assault. In March of the following year, he was fined for a minor offence of dishonesty at Newport Magistrates' Court with the police national computer (PNC) showing that he was an 18-year-old army apprentice at the time.
Mr Greaney said the next offence was in October 1991, when the defendant had enlisted in the Royal Marines and was stationed at the commando training centre in Lympstone. The PNC record indicated that he punched another person several times in the face in a "nightclub scuffle", while he told police that "he got the better of" the men.
This resulted in Doyle receiving a fine and being ordered to pay compensation and court costs. But Mr Greaney added: "The fact of that conviction is relevant for reasons to which we will turn."
The prosecution silk outlined how, in February 1992, Doyle was convicted of the military offence of using violence to his superior office. No further details of the offence were recorded, but he received a fine of £250.
Just days later, Doyle was convicted of the military offence of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline and received another fine of £250 and was placed on a six-month formal warning. Mr Greaney told the court: "Then came the conviction for the offence contrary to Section 20 on the 2nd of July 1992.
"The effect of this conviction was to cause senior officers within the Royal Marines to confirm the defendant's SNLR discharge. As we have explained, the defendant sought to challenge his discharge but was unsuccessful in doing so. His discharge took place just over six months later, on 11th January 1993.
"On the 22nd of July 1992, so shortly after his conviction for the offence contrary to Section 20, but before his discharge, the defendant was convicted of a military offence that equated to criminal damage. He was punished by seven days' restriction of privileges. The service records reveal that he damaged a shop window."
The court was told that, while serving in the Royal Marines Reserve, Doyle was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm, along with an offence of using threatening, abusive, insulting words or behaviour. He was sentenced at Preston Crown Court to a total of 12 months' imprisonment.
Mr Greaney said of this: "A search of the PNC reveals that the offences occurred on the 2nd of July 1993 and involved the defendant biting off the ear of another man in a fight. 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."
When the prosecution told the court about Doyle's conviction, there were gasps in the public gallery. A tearful Doyle sat hunched over, with his head bowed.
The court heard between the date of the assault and his sentence, Doyle committed further offences including an offence of dishonesty and breach of the peace in Scotland where he was sentenced to a short community service. Mr Greaney added: "It follows that, between the ages of 18 and 22, the defendant was convicted of a series of offences, including offences of serious violence.
"As a matter of principle, those convictions tend to aggravate the seriousness of the current offending. However, as against that, the prosecution recognises that, in the 30 years between his release from prison in May 1995 and his dreadful actions on the 26th of May 2025, the defendant had taken steps to live a positive and productive life.
"During that period, he was convicted of no offences. He went to university. He worked, including in positions of responsibility. He had a family. 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."
Mr Greaney earlier told the court: "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."
The charges Doyle has 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 counts 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 faces 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.