Paul Doyle: He seemed like the perfect family man. Then he brought chaos to Liverpool
A.As thousands of Liverpool football fans celebrated their team’s success on a leafy cul-de-sac in the city centre, six miles away, neighbors noticed a father-of-three slowly getting out of his car and walking away.
Paul Doyle, now 54, who is believed to have dropped off a colleague’s family in the city earlier that day, appeared likely to return to pick them up. “Paul, being the good guy he is, would offer to pick them up,” a neighbor said.
However, the father of three never returned home.
Instead, he walked into a cordoned-off street full of Liverpool fans returning home after his team’s victory parade, where he lost his temper and They deliberately drove the car into them, injuring 134 people, including a six-month-old baby and a 77-year-old pensioner.
The news sent shockwaves across the city and the world. But there were no more than stunned people who knew him and described him as a “role model father”, someone the local community looked up to.
They said he was a man who always helped out with chores, offered condolence gifts for the dead and attended a local church.
“I’m shocked, I’m stunned,” said his neighbor in West Derby, where the average price for spacious properties is £217,000.
“I know everyone’s rules [car registration plate] I saw him on the street, within seconds of seeing the images, I said, this is his damn car, on TV. “My heart sank, I couldn’t believe it.”
The neighbor said Doyle knocked on his door to meet his wife, believed to be a school teacher.
“And I said, ‘His car was probably rammed, stolen or something,’” he said. “He started crying.”
Neighbors said Doyle lived with his wife and three children in their four-bedroom detached house.
The elegant front yard featured a table and chairs, a sign of the family’s clear presence in the neighborhood; The front ride featured parts of a racing bike, a nod to Doyle’s interest in the sport.
Doyle, who served in the Royal Marines for four years between 1990 and 1994, went on to work as a security engineer and then set up a business, graduating from the University of Liverpool in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Mathematics.
He was reportedly a sports and fitness enthusiast who competed in triathlons.
Pictures on social media pages show family holidays to Disneyland, Japan and Australia.
He was often seen on his skateboard, walking his dog, or playing with his children outside his home.
“He idolized his children and they loved him,” the neighbor said. “He was a good family man, someone to chat to on site or offer a little help when out in the garden.
“You would never believe he would do something like that, it’s crazy.”
Before moving to their current home in 1997, the family lived in another semi-detached house nearby, where he was also known as a friendly neighbour.
A neighbor’s daughter said she gave her mother an angel statue as a condolence gift when her father died around the time Doyle and his family moved out.
“My mom said when my dad died and they were moving, my mom was sad because she lost a friend as well as my dad,” she said.
Doyle’s actions in Liverpool were “very out of character” for a “loving and caring man”.
But he added: “To be honest, I just feel bad for his wife and kids now. Whatever the outcome, I don’t think it’s going to be good for him or his family.”
“I think the perfect life that you knew is not going to happen anymore. It’s completely changed. They were very respected, they worked hard, they had a good life, they worked hard for it.”
Another person living on the same road echoed the woman’s words, describing him as “a good family man with a lovely wife and lovely children.”
He recalls being sporty, often seen running in the local park or on his bike.
“There are some people who would think I wouldn’t be surprised by that, but I was put off by it happening, I wasn’t expecting that at all,” he said.
Like many, the first she heard of Doyle’s actions was a flurry of frantic calls and social media messages in the hours after the Ford Galaxy was driven into Water Street.
The parade celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League win had ended when tragedy struck. Video footage shows people banging on the windows of the car that hit the fans.
As emergency services rushed to the scene, parents and friends desperately tried to contact their loved ones who were at the event attended by 750,000 people.
Doyle, meanwhile, was questioned for almost 72 hours before being charged. The city watched with interest as he arrived at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court the next day.
At first, he denied using his two-ton car as a weapon and pleaded not guilty to all 31 charges against him. He was expected to claim that he had acted in blind panic when he crashed into the crowd.
But on Wednesday, on the second day at Liverpool Crown Court, as his trial was due to begin, Doyle changed his plea significantly, pleading guilty to dangerous driving, affray, 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine charges of causing GBH with intent and three charges of wounding with intent.
She sat with her head bowed and wept as she changed her plea, speaking in a broken voice, wiping away her tears as the charges were read back to her.
Sending him from the dock to the cells, Liverpool Recorder Judge Andrew Menary KC warned he must prepare for the “inevitable” long prison sentence.
“People just wanted to know why,” said another man who lives on the road. “How could someone so perfect do such a terrible, terrible thing to innocent people?”
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