Liverpool victory parade attacker Paul Doyle has been jailed for 21 years and six months.
The 54-year-old was handed the sentence at Liverpool Crown Court today.
He was told he must serve two-thirds of the sentence in custody until he can be released on licence and will be banned from driving until three years after completing his sentence when he must complete an extended re-test.
Doyle used his Ford Galaxy Titanium as a “weapon” to plough through more than 100 people at Liverpool’s Premier League title celebrations in Water Street just after 6pm on May 26.
Prosecutors said he flew into a “rage” – with dashcam footage showing him shout “move”, “f****** pricks” and “get out the f****** way” as he drove through the crowds.
Doyle had initially denied 31 offences he was charged with but last month, moments before the prosecution was due to open his trial, he changed his pleas to admit all the charges.
Dashcam footage from the vehicle, played in court, showed the shocking moments when fans were thrown onto the bonnet of the car or fell underneath it.
Judge Andrew Menary KC addressed the footage of Doyle’s rampage as he passed sentencing, describing it as “truly shocking”.
He told the defendant: “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.
“You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the bonnet, drove over limbs, crushed prams and forced those nearby to scatter in terror.
The victims of the attack were aged between six months and 77-years-old
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“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.”
The judge said those who know Doyle had described him as a “devoted husband and father” and a “reliable and supportive family man, a person who lives a disciplined and responsible life for many years”.
“These people are as bewildered as everyone else at the shocking events of May 26, 2025,” the judge added.
He said he recognised the sentence he was about to impose would have a “devastating and profound” effect on Doyle’s wife and children but it would reflect the “multiple high culpability features” and also the “sheer scale of offending”.
The judge made reference to ‘truly shocking’ footage of the incident
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Judge Menary said he wished to formally commend Dan Barr, who climbed into the back seat of Doyle’s car and held the automatic gear stick in park mode to bring the vehicle to a stop.
He said: “His actions on that day were outstandingly brave.
“At a moment when many understandably feared for their own safety, he ran towards the danger, entered a moving vehicle and brought it to a halt, thereby preventing further injury and quite possibly saving lives.”
Doyle’s victims told the court the defendant’s actions have left people “traumatised”, with one woman urging him to “take responsibility” for what he had done.
He spent large portions of the two-day hearing at Liverpool Crown Court in tears – with the horrific dashcam and CCTV footage played multiple times to the public gallery.
Daniel Barr climbed into Doyle’s car and moved the gear stick to bring the vehicle to a halt during the attack
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Today, prosecutor Philip Astbury continued to read statements from 78 of Doyle’s victims – with one mother telling the court how a pram with her six-month-old baby inside was struck by his Ford Galaxy.
She said: “I relive the moment of the collision repeatedly, especially the terrifying image of my pram being struck and taken by the car with my six-month-old baby inside.
“The horror of not knowing whether he was alive or dead in that instant will haunt me forever.”
Another victim, Susan Farrell, 55, on behalf of herself and her 62-year-old husband Colin Farrell, said: “There are hundreds of people affected by your actions. I want you to think about them all.
The court heard Doyle used his car as a ‘weapon’
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“Don’t sit in the dock and cry for yourself. Be brave and take accountability for what you did.”
Paula Woodruff, 49, said she had not been able to return to Liverpool with her son since the incident, adding: “The thought of ever being able to cope with attending another celebration event of a football crowd is unbearable now.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to overcome this and return to our city.”
Doyle, a former Royal Marine, has previous convictions for violence in the 1990s, including biting a sailor’s ear off.
Doyle was not found to be under the influence of drink or drugs at the time of the attack
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When interviewed, he said he had seen someone with a knife and drove in panic for fear he would be attacked, but police found no evidence from CCTV or witnesses that anyone in the area had a knife.
No defects were found with the car and Doyle was not under the influence of drink or drugs.
Doyle admitted to dangerous driving, affray, 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine counts of causing GBH with intent and three counts of wounding with intent, at a court hearing last month.
James Allison, from the Crown Prosecution Service Mersey-Cheshire, said: “Why did he do it? I think the simple answer is he lost his temper. He went into a rage.
Doyle has been sentenced to 21 and a half years in prison
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“He just wanted to get down that road, and in trying to get down that road those next couple of minutes probably devastated a lot of people’s lives.”
Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald, of Merseyside Police, said: “Doyle’s total disregard for the safety of others—particularly the many young children present on Dale Street and Water Street that day—is beyond comprehension.
“It is sheer luck that no lives were lost.”