A former Royal Marine has admitted deliberately driving his car into football fans during Liverpool FC’s victory parade, injuring 134 people, including two babies. Paul Doyle, 54, steered his Ford Galaxy into the packed crowd on 26 May after following an ambulance along a road closed to ordinary traffic. CCTV footage captured people being thrown into the air as the vehicle accelerated erratically. Witnesses had attempted to remove Doyle from the driver’s seat moments before the collisions began.
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More than 50 people required hospital treatment, including children. The youngest victims were two infants aged just six and seven months. The oldest, a 77-year-old woman, suffered multiple fractures after becoming trapped under the vehicle alongside an 11-year-old boy and two other people.
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Doyle had initially denied 31 charges relating to 21 adults and eight children, including numerous counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm. However, on Wednesday, as his four-week trial was due to begin at Liverpool Crown Court, he broke down in the dock before changing his pleas to guilty. Judge Andrew Menary KC told him a “lengthy custodial sentence” was unavoidable. Doyle will be sentenced on 15 and 16 December and is expected to receive more than 10 years in prison.
Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald of Merseyside Police said it was “pure luck” that no one was killed. “What should have been a joyful day for the city became terrifying and traumatic,” he said. “Many victims continue to live with both physical and psychological consequences.”
The courtroom was filled with relatives of the injured as well as Doyle’s family. Doyle later claimed he panicked after believing he saw someone armed with a knife, but prosecutors rejected the account, arguing he acted in anger and attempted to force his way through the crowd. Police also dismissed his claim that alcohol had been thrown into his eyes. The incident ended only when a passer-by climbed into the back of the vehicle and forced the gear stick into park, allowing others to restrain Doyle until police arrived.
Videos rapidly circulated online, prompting speculation it was a terrorist attack. Tests later confirmed Doyle was sober, and officers concluded he had driven from his home in Croxteth to collect a friend’s family.
Among the injured was Rob Darke, who spent months in a wheelchair and is now receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. “I thought it was a terror attack,” he told Sky News. “People were flying everywhere. It was absolute carnage.” Neighbours described Doyle as a previously respectable family man. After serving in the Royal Marines in the early 1990s, he worked in IT and cybersecurity roles and ran two now-dissolved companies.
Sarah Hammond, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Doyle had caused “unimaginable harm”, adding: “His actions brought chaos to a community gathered to celebrate.” Sentencing will take place next month.
