‘Real reason’ Paul Doyle ploughed car through crowd in Liverpool parade attack | UK | News

A prosecutor has revealed why he thought Paul Doyle was driving in Liverpool FC’s victory parade in May. Doyle, 54, was today jailed for 21 years and six months for driving his Ford Galaxy directly into fans leaving the Premier League title celebrations. 134 people were injured in the incident that lasted 7 minutes on Su Street, which was closed to traffic.

Specialist prosecutor James Allison, of CPS Mersey Cheshire Complex Case Working Unit, said Doyle “lost his temper” and moved towards the crowd “angrily”. He said: “Doyle, a middle-aged family man, used the vehicle as a weapon during the dangerous seven-minute drive, hitting more than 100 people, including children, babies and elderly people. When it finally ended, he pinned some of them under his vehicle.

“Not only did it injure many people, but it also created fear and chaos on a day full of celebration and joy.

“Why did he do this? The truth is as simple as it is terrible: Paul Doyle lost his temper and, in his anger, pounced on people with the intention of causing them serious harm.”

Doyle, a former Royal Marine, admitted 17 charges of dangerous driving, affray, causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine charges of causing GBH with intent and three charges of wounding with intent.

Sentencing judge Andrew Menary KC echoed Mr Allison’s comments about Doyle’s state of anger at the time he committed the offence. He told the defendant he was acting out of “inexplicable and undiluted anger.”

He told Doyle: “It is almost impossible to understand how any right-thinking person could act as you do. To so persistently drive a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians and disregard human life defies ordinary understanding.”

“Your actions caused horror and destruction on a scale this court has never before encountered.”