Paul Doyle Sentence: Man Who Drove Into Crowds Gets Jail
Liverpool supporters had waited more than 30 years to be able to gather together and celebrate the Reds winning the league.
Although the victory at the end of the 2019-2020 campaign was one that no one could take away from us, the lockdown protocols in place at the time meant that the majority of people were unable to share their joy with loved ones and friends, which made the open top bus parade at the end of last season even more special.
Yet at the end of it, as people started heading home, it seemed like tragedy had struck the club once again.
What happened to the man who drove his car into the crowds?
The Incident
It was the 26th of May 2025, the day after Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk had hoisted the Premier League trophy above his head in front of an adoring Anfield crowd, that around one million people lined the streets of Liverpool in order to celebrate the club’s title win as an open top bus toured the city.
Paul Doyle, a motorist, drove his grey Ford Galaxy along Water Street, having avoided the ‘traffic implementation measures’, put in place to stop cars driving where pedestrians were walking, by following an ambulance when barriers were moved out of the way to allow it to get to someone in need.
@londonworldnews1 Liverpool parade attacker Paul Doyle has been jailed for 21 years and six months after ploughing his car into 134 football fans during a two-minute anger-fuelled rampage. The 54-year-old wept in the dock as he was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after a two-day hearing on Tuesday, 16 December. The former Royal Marine had driven his 1.9-tonne Ford Galaxy vehicle through the crowds in a “rage”, after his “anger had completely taken hold of him”. paul Doyle footage. #BreakingNews #liverpool #pauldoyle #parade ♬ original sound – LWN
Doyle had already argued with some pedestrians who were informing him he wasn’t allowed to drive there, but when he became trapped in his car he drove his vehicle into the crowd in front of him. That alone caused serious injury, including seeing people trapped under the car, but when people began to smash the car’s windows, Doyle accelerated again, hitting more people.
When the car stopped for a second time, members of the crowd attempted to drag Doyle out of the vehicle, whilst he was protected by police officers. There were 79 people who had suffered injuries, ranging in age from nine to 78.
Doyle is Charged
In the wake of the incident itself, King Charles III talked of the ‘strength of community spirit’ in Liverpool, whilst the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, went to the city in order to spend time with local police chiefs. There had also been planned strike action due to take place at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which was cancelled.
Three days after the incident, a man named Paul Doyle was revealed to have been the person responsible for ‘using his car as a weapon’, seeing police charge him with seven offences, including dangerous driving and malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
What a psycho to drive through a crowd of people like that.
No wonder Paul Doyle got 21 years.
— BladeoftheSun (@bladeofthes.bsky.social) Dec 16, 2025 at 16:10
On the 30th of May he appeared at Liverpool Magistrate’s Court, later appearing at Liverpool Crown Court. Another 24 charges were added on the 14th of August when he appeared at the Crown Court by video link, with Doyle pleading not guilty to all of the charges a little over a month later.
The trial was planned to begin on the 25th of November, but that was cancelled after he decided to change his plea to guilty the following day. As a result, there was no need for a trial and his sentencing was pushed to the 16th of December, with Judge Andrew Menary KC being tasked with issuing the sentence.
The Sentencing
On the 16th of December, Doyle appeared in Liverpool Crown Court in order to hear his sentencing. Having admitted to 31 offences, he was issued with a jail sentence for 21 years and six months.
The victims included a survivor of the Manchester Arena bombing, Francesca Massey, as well as a refugee from the war in Ukraine, Anna Bilonozhenko, as well as babies in prams and elderly women, with a total of 134 people becoming victims of Doyle’s rampage. Although there had been attempts to paint him as a ‘lovely family man’, his past shows a different person to that.
On the second of July 1993, for example, he bit the ear off a sailor during a bar fight that resulted in him being sent to prison for 12 months. During his time in the army, with both the Royal Engineers and the Royal Marines, Doyle had military convictions for criminal damage, common assault and ‘using violence against a superior officer’.
Dashcam footage of Doyle’s journey into the city centre showed a man driving dangerously and erratically, including going through a red light. In spite of his efforts to rehabilitate himself, the violent past of Doyle was clearly never far from the surface.
