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The judge has sentenced Paul Doyle to 21 years and six months in prison for his actions. We will give you more details soon.<\/p>\n
Share<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Doyle stared straight ahead, blinking, with no expression as the judge handed down his sentence.<\/p>\n There was no reaction from the former royal marine as he was taken down from the dock by prison officers at Liverpool crown court.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The judge says he took into account the fact that Doyle had not committed any offences for over three decades and had made efforts to turn his life around after a \u201ctroubling start\u201d to early adulthood, including going to university.<\/p>\n Character references described Doyle as a devoted husband, father, and good friend.<\/p>\n Before passing his sentence, the judge acknowledged that the sentence he was about to pass \u2013 of 21 years and six months \u2013 is to have a \u201cdevastating\u201d impact but said its length was proportionate given the \u201cgravity\u201d of the offences.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The judge described the evidence against Doyle as overwhelming.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The judge has sentenced Paul Doyle to 21 years and six months in prison for his actions. We will give you more details soon.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The judge said Doyle acted in an \u201cinexplicable and undiluted fury\u201d when he ploughed into crowds at Liverpool\u2019s victory parade.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cA number of witnesses, including serving police officers, describe you continuing to press the accelerator, even when people were visibly underneath the car.<\/p>\n \u201cYour shouted expressions of frustration underline your state of mind at the time \u2013 not fear or panic, but an inexplicable and undiluted fury.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Doyle, in the dock, bows his head, as the judge starts to read out a list of the injuries caused in the collision on 26 May 2025.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The judge told Doyle: \u201cFor no reason other than impatience and arrogance, your driving into the city was routinely dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cIn poor weather conditions you repeatedly undertook other vehicles, took road hazards too quickly and drove through traffic lights at a junction.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge said that on Dale Street Doyle\u2019s driving was \u201caggressive and dangerous\u201d, telling him: \u201cYou frightened pedestrians, leaning on your horn and shouting obscenities such as \u2018get out of the fucking way\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Judge Andrew Menary KC said the account given by Doyle in his police interview, in which he said he had acted out of panic due to the behaviour of some the crowd, was \u201cdemonstrably untrue\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe position should be stated clearly: The crowd did not cause this incident, they reacted to it, faced with a vehicle being driven directly at them, reversing and striking multiple people,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had no idea who you were, why you were driving in this manner and whether this was an attack of an even more serious nature.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge said the attempt by Doyle to blame his actions on some of the football supporters on the street were \u201cunfair\u201d and \u201cunfounded\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.54 EST<\/p>\n The judge told Doyle that his \u201cdisregard for human life defies ordinary understanding\u201d.<\/p>\n He told the defendant<\/p>\n It is almost impossible to comprehend how any right-thinking person could act as you did.<\/em><\/p>\n To drive a vehicle into crowds of pedestrians with such persistence and disregard for human life defies ordinary understanding.<\/em><\/p>\n The judge added: \u201cYour actions caused horror and devastation on a scale not previously encountered by this court.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n In his sentencing remarks the judge said that Doyle drove \u201cdangerously\u201d into the city centre of Liverpool during the football celebrations and \u201cdeliberately\u201d drove \u201cinto and over more than 100 pedestrians\u201d, using his vehicle in a way that transformed it into a \u201cweapon\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cYou made the conscious choice to drive past the cones and into the heart of the crowd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe footage is truly shocking. It is difficult if not impossible to convey in words alone the scenes of devastation you caused.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows you deliberately accelerating into groups of fans, time and time again.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The sentencing judge describes the Liverpool parade as supposed to having been a day of celebration, but Doyle drove \u201cdangerously\u201d into the \u201cheart of the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn a mere two minutes you used your vehicle in a manner that turned it into a weapon… deliberately driving into and over more than 100 pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.43 EST<\/p>\n Judge Andrew Menary KC has now begun his sentencing address.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Doyle, who pleaded guilty last month, is \u201cappalled by his own conduct\u201d, his barrister Simon Csoka continues.<\/p>\n His client that day had not left the house with the intention of driving into the crowd and causing harm \u2013 he had gone to the parade to help pick up a friend and his friend\u2019s children.<\/p>\n His sudden action to turn on the crowd was \u201cunexpected and incomprehensible\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe spiralling effect of his conduct was utterly unexpected by him and utterly unexpected by all those who know him well.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.33 EST<\/p>\n Doyle\u2019s lawyer Simon Csoka KC is now addressing the court. He says his client accepts full responsibility for his crimes in Liverpool.<\/p>\n He is \u201chorrified\u201d and \u201cremorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry for all those who have suffered,\u201d Csoka said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe accepts full responsibility, he expects no sympathy.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Prosecutor Greaney says that run of convictions in Doyle\u2019s early history would aggravate the seriousness of his offences in Liverpool.<\/p>\n However, he said the prosecution also recognised that in the 30 years between his prison release in 1995 and his actions in Liverpool in May, \u201cthe defendant had taken steps to live a positive and productive life.\u201d<\/p>\n During that period, he was convicted of no offences. He went to university. He worked, including in positions of responsibility. He had a family.<\/p>\n 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Doyle sentenced to 21 years and six months The judge has sentenced Paul Doyle to 21 years and six months in prison for his actions. We will give you more details soon. Share Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Doyle stared straight ahead, blinking, with no expression<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[673,1495,20785,4824,12168,132,2069,1728,973,2250,2449,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-37682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-car","10":"tag-celebrating","11":"tag-crowd","12":"tag-doyle","13":"tag-live","14":"tag-liverpool","15":"tag-parade","16":"tag-paul","17":"tag-sentenced","18":"tag-weapon","19":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Doyle sentenced to 21 years and six months<\/h2>\n
Judge says the ‘crowd did not cause this incident’<\/h2>\n
Judge says Doyle’s ‘disregard for human life defies ordinary understanding’<\/h2>\n
Judge says Doyle caused ‘scenes of devastation’ as he ‘deliberately’ drove into crowd<\/h2>\n
Paul Doyle’s lawyer says client is ‘appalled by own conduct’<\/h2>\n
Doyle ‘remorseful’ and ‘deeply sorry’ – lawyer<\/h2>\n