How a driver snapped and unleashed terror on Liverpool FC’s parade
While Doyle awaits sentencing next month, where he could face a lengthy prison sentence, here’s how events unfolded.
Celebration turned to horror
On May 26, the celebration turned into a massacre in the streets of Liverpool. The red half of the city was in jubilation as football fans gathered to celebrate Liverpool FC’s success in the Premier League with an open-top bus parade.
The team’s previous Premier League title was won during the pandemic, when it was not possible for large numbers of fans to celebrate together. This time the club and the city were determined to celebrate this success with an event that everyone could enjoy.
An open-top bus parade brought enthusiastic Liverpool fans onto the streets en masse.Credit: Getty Images
Doyle didn’t seem interested in attending the parade, but in keeping with his apparent good-guy character, he had agreed to give a friend and family a ride downtown so they could attend.
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He had also agreed to pick up his friend after the parade was over; It was a decision he would undoubtedly regret for the rest of his life. Dashcam footage and CCTV footage from the day in question showed a completely different side to his character.
Returning downtown to meet and pick up his friend, Doyle looked like a man dangerously out of control.
Speeding through heavy traffic, overtaking other cars, and running red lights, it was clear that he was already in an agitated and aggressive mood. Dashcam footage to be shown to the jury on Wednesday showed Doyle becoming enraged as he became “increasingly agitated” by the crowds.
At 17.54, the celebrations in the city were coming to an end and the red-white fans were slowly starting to move away from the area around The Strand.
Football fans lined the walkway on Water Street in Liverpool city center following the incident.Credit: Getty Images
Hundreds of fans were walking along Dale Street toward Water Street when Doyle approached the area in his gray Ford Galaxy. In an audio recording recovered from the car’s camera, he was seen shouting and swearing at pedestrians standing on the road.
As Doyle snaked his way downtown, he came across an ambulance moving through the crowd to reach a collapsed person.
On Exchange Street East, the ambulance found the road blocked by traffic cones, but a member of the public who noticed paramedics responding to an emergency moved a cone to allow the ambulance to pass.
Doyle, following closely behind, seized the opportunity and drove through the gap, heading towards Dale Street. Still jubilant fans were shocked to see a car being driven so aggressively in a crowded area.
A woman pushing a stroller had to move out of the way as Doyle continued to move against the flow of pedestrians.
By the time he reached Stanley Street, Doyle’s anger was boiling over and he ran a red light.
Someone in the crowd was heard shouting “run me over – keep going” and another, angry at Doyle’s driving, was heard hitting the side of the car as he passed him. By now Doyle appeared to have completely lost control and was even driving down the right side of the road.
Doyle was challenged
At 5:58 p.m., a man walking with his child, worried about Doyle’s driving, put his foot on the bumper of his car and tried to object to him. Pushing forward, an increasingly angry Doyle replied: “That’s a damn road.”
Lawyers said this moment marked the point at which Doyle “proceeded to the point of losing his temper.” Doyle snapped as drivers of other vehicles waited patiently in line, perhaps accepting that they weren’t going anywhere for now.
He crossed into the right lane, honked his horn and started moving towards pedestrians.
Fearing for their safety, some of those closest to his car began desperately pounding on the roof to stop him and calm him down.
But Doyle did not stop and repeatedly shouted “Fucking assholes!” He was heard shouting. in the injured.
Some kicked and punched the side of his car, one managed to pry the door open, and another threw a camping chair through the rear window.
Accelerating, Doyle crashed into the stroller containing six-month-old Teddy Eveson. Teddy was thrown four meters down the road but miraculously was not seriously injured.
More than 100 injured people were treated in hospitals.Credit: access point
Doyle drove into the crowd and into an area where vehicles were not allowed, hitting more pedestrians, shouting “fuck” as he went.
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Later, as he drove towards city hall, he was honking his car horn and cursing at the crowd as people were forced to dive for cover.
When he crashed his two-tonne Ford Galaxy into a teenage girl near Water Street, Doyle was heard shouting: “Fuck you, get off.”
At one stage Doyle’s forward progress was stopped so he crashed the car into reverse and collided with an ambulance while reversing.
Some of those who crashed were crushed under the wheels and suffered injuries that forced them to stay in hospital for months. Even then Doyle did not come to his senses.
By now the crowd had gathered densely around the car, desperate to stop the carnage, but Doyle once again stepped on the accelerator and crashed into more helpless pedestrians.
Eventually passerby Daniel Barr managed to get into the automatic Galaxy and put the gear lever into park mode, bringing it to a halt. Prosecutors declared Barr a hero.
An injured victim said: “I thought they were terrorists. That was the first thing that came to my mind. Who else could do such a thing? People were lying everywhere. It was like a bomb had exploded… There was massacre everywhere… People were crying and screaming.”
Doyle was dragged from the car by the angry mob but was rescued by police officers without serious injury.
How he lied to avoid blame
Doyle would later claim that he stopped as soon as he realized he had hit someone; prosecutors said this allegation was a “blatant lie.”
He would also tell police that he actually feared for his life as he drove through the busy streets, believing he was about to be attacked or even stabbed by angry members of the crowd, whom he branded “drunken idiots”.
Courtroom sketch shows Paul Doyle appearing for sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court.Credit: Elizabeth Cook/AP
Prosecutors found no evidence that anyone in the vicinity was carrying a knife, saying Doyle was “just lying” but Doyle nevertheless thanked police for their bravery in saving him.
Doyle also claimed that a man he encountered earlier was acting “very, very aggressive” and trying to open his car door; This is another lie.
Continuing to maintain his innocence, Doyle claimed that he was so convinced he would be killed by the mob that his wife and children were on his mind.
A family man facing years in prison
Married with children, Doyle was once known as a quiet and devoted family man. After spending four years in the Royal Marines in the early 1990s, he worked as a network security manager. He graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Mathematics.
Steve, the mechanic who serviced Doyle’s Galaxy a few months before the attack, told London: Telegram: “He was so sane that he had pictures of his wife and children on the dashboard of the car.
“He was so proud of them and their training. I saw the footage of what happened at the parade on TV. I couldn’t believe it.”
‘This was not a momentary mistake; It was a choice he made that day and it turned the celebration into mayhem.’
Sarah Hammond, Crown Coroner Mersey-Cheshire
Doyle has been told to expect a long prison sentence when he appears in court again for a two-day hearing starting on December 15.
Sarah Hammond, chief prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “Today’s convictions bring some measure of justice for an act that caused unimaginable harm at what should have been a day of celebration for the city of Liverpool.”
He said his anger was a “calculated act of violence”, adding: “This was not a momentary mistake on Paul Doyle’s part; it was a choice he made on the day that turned the celebration into mayhem.”
