Doyle used a car as a “weapon” to plough through more than 100 people at Liverpool’s Premier League title celebrations.
Court artist sketch of Paul Doyle wiping away tears as he appears at Liverpool Crown Court during his sentencing hearing (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
Prosecutors said he flew into a “rage” on May 26 – with horrific dashcam footage showing him shout “move”, “f****** pricks” and “get out the f****** way” as he drove through the crowds.
On Tuesday, some of his victims spoke of their suffering following his “spine-chilling” rampage, with one telling him: “Don’t sit in the dock and cry for yourself.”
After the statements, prosecutor Paul Greaney KC told Liverpool Crown Court about the defendant’s violent past – including the drunken fight and a “scuffle” with men in a nightclub during his 32-week Royal Marines training period.
When he was interviewed by police earlier this year about the incident in which he bit a man’s ear off, he said he had become involved in a drunken fight with sailors.
Paul Doyle is being sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court (PA)
The court heard Doyle also punched another person in the face several times, leading to him being convicted of a section 20 assault and being fined by Exeter Magistrates’ Court.
He was also convicted of a military offence for violence to a superior officer, the court heard.
His convictions for serious violence came between the ages of 18 and 22, with Mr Greaney saying: “The prosecution recognises that in the 30 years between his release from prison in May 1995 and his dreadful actions on May 26 2025, the defendant had taken steps to live a positive and productive life.”
Forensic officers walk past an inflatable field tent at the scene in Water Street (Peter Byrne/PA)
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Tuesday, December 16
Doyle cried as Mr Greaney 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.”
Doyle’s victims told the court the defendant’s actions in May have left people “traumatised”, with one woman urging him to “take responsibility” for what he had done.
Forensic officers at the scene in Water Street near the Liver Building in Liverpool (PA)
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.
On Tuesday, 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.
“Don’t sit in the dock and cry for yourself. Be brave and take accountability for what you did.”
Court artist sketch of Paul Doyle during an earlier hearing (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
The “hero” who jumped into Doyle’s car and placed the vehicle into park said the experience had brought his past trauma as a soldier to the surface, adding he has since become angry and withdrawn.
Mr Barr, who was in the back seat of the Ford Galaxy for the last 16 seconds of its movement, said in his statement that he had kept the “high pressure, traumatic and dangerous situations” from his tours of Iraq “under wraps” for years.
He continued: “But since that day it has brought everything to the surface, and I find I can no longer put a mask on and carry on as normal.
“I am angry when I go to bed. I don’t sleep very well, if at all. I wake up angry. Big things don’t bother me, but little things do. I am quick to anger and slow to hide it.”
Mr Barr added: “I generally feel no sense of purpose and don’t know what to do, and this is without having fully come to terms with what happened that day.”
In another statement, a 51-year-old grandmother spoke of the “spine-chilling” moment her grandson was struck by the vehicle.
She said: “The flashbacks are horrific, and I struggle to sleep.
“Every time I close my eyes, I am back at the scene reliving it over and over again.
“The nightmares are real, and I wake sobbing.”
A prison van arriving at Liverpool Crown Court, where Paul Doyle is being sentenced (PA)
Doyle previously pleaded guilty to 31 offences relating to seriously injuring people during the victory parade in May.
He is due to be sentenced later on Tuesday.
On Monday, prosecutors told how in the space of two minutes, Doyle’s Ford Galaxy – which weighed nearly two tonnes – collided with “well over 100 people” and he was “prepared to cause those in the crowd, even children, serious harm if necessary to achieve his aim of getting through”.
Doyle admitted 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 last month.
He had previously denied the offences, which relate to 29 victims aged between six months and 77 years.
Doyle was arrested at the scene in Water Street just after 6pm and charged later that week.
The youngest victim was six-month-old Teddy Eveson, whose parents later told media he was thrown about 15 feet down the road in his pram during the crash.
Doyle, of Croxteth, Liverpool, admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to the baby.
Five other children, whom Doyle either injured or attempted to injure, cannot be named for legal reasons.
