Ex-marine flew right into a rage and drove into crowds at Liverpool victory parade earlier than ‘mendacity to police he thought knifeman was making an attempt to open automobile door and stab him’
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A former Royal Marine facing jail after he admitted ploughing into fans celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League title falsely claimed that he was trying to escape a knifeman trying to stab him.
New detail can now be revealed about Paul Doyle’s seven minutes of carnage, which caused such terror and injury that witnesses initially assumed they were the targets of a terror attack.
His attack was only ended when a hero supporter bravely grabbed hold of the gearstick of his Ford Galaxy, which weighed almost two tonnes, finally bringing it to halt.
Horrific new details about his near-fatal rampage come after the 54-year-old father-of-three dramatically changed his pleas and admitted all 31 counts which he was facing on the second day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Prosecutors are understood to have been planning to argue that Doyle – who now faces a potential life sentence – used his car as a ‘weapon’ after flying into a rage as he attempted to drive through crowds.
Harrowing dashcam footage which was to have been shown to the jury shows him repeatedly swearing at supporters walking in the road.
He was sober and not under the influence of drugs at the time, and tests of his Ford Galaxy found no defects which could have explained the carnage which unfolded, it is understood.
Doyle was not motivated by any ideology, prosecutors had been expected to tell jurors.
Paul Doyle was told he faces jail after driving his car into crowds at the Liverpool victory parade
Emergency services at the scene of the incident on Water Street. More than 130 people were injured, police later said
After the terrifying attack which left 134 people injured, 29 seriously, Doyle falsely told police he had panicked after a man he believed to be armed with a knife tried to open his door.
He lied to officers that he only stopped when he realised he had struck pedestrians.
Astonishingly, considering the reckless and near-fatal violence which was to follow, Doyle was only in Liverpool city centre on May 26 because he had agreed to pick up family friends after the parade – having dropped them off there earlier.
Damning evidence of his guilt came in the form of his dashcam which recorded both video and audio of all his journeys on the six-mile route from his home in Croxteth that day.
It revealed how his driving had already become aggressive even before he encountered fans in the road.
Doyle undertook other cars and ran a red light as he drove the 25-minute journey from his home to Liverpool city centre.
Then as he found his sensible people carrier – in fact registered to his wife – blocked in by thousands of fans, Doyle took advantage of supporters moving cones to allow an ambulance through.
Within moments of the seven-year-old £12,000 car entering Water Street, Doyle began accelerating, knocking dozens of people over like skittles, horrified witnesses said.
An artist’s sketch of Paul Doyle after he appeared in court yesterday
Pictured: Paul Doyle who was seen driving the car in Liverpool on May 26 2025
Some fans were sent flying while others were trapped beneath its wheels.
As people screamed in panic, the car finally came to a halt, before it was rushed by dozens fans, trying to get to Doyle in the driver’s seat.
Some were shouting: ‘F****** kill him!’
Police officers managed to intervene and Doyle was bundled into a nearby police van for his own safety and arrested.
When he was interviewed, Doyle falsely told police he had been in fear after a man he believed to be armed with a knife tried to open his door.
He claimed he had been driving slowly through the crowds when someone smashed his car window, leaving him terrified that the knifeman had followed him and that he was going to be stabbed.
Doyle insisted he panicked and tried to drive away, only stopping when he realised he had struck pedestrians.
However the ‘knifeman’ was entirely fictitious, and exhaustive analysis of harrowing CCTV footage spelt out the carnage he had in fact inflicted.
Jack Trotter (pictured) was struck by the driver on Water Street, shortly after 6pm. He had been out celebrating his team’s league title win during the club’s victory parade
Police officers investigate the scene of an incident in Water Street, on the sidelines of the open-top bus victory parade for Liverpool’s Premier League title win on May 26 this year
Police officers are seen covering an area with an inflatable tent to preserve evidence
In reality, the attack was only ended when a supporter bravely got inside Doyle’s car, which had an automatic gearbox.
The man reached over to put it into ‘park’, finally bringing the two-tonne vehicle to a halt.
Doyle’s attack was in fact a grotesque and inexplicable piece of road rage, prosecutors would have argued had the trial gone ahead.
The truth, it is understood they would have alleged, was that he was prepared to cause serious harm to men, women and children in order to get through.
Doyle, of Croxteth, Liverpool, appeared inconsolable and gasped repeatedly as the counts he faced were read out by the court clerk one by one.
Doyle’s voice shook and he could scarcely utter the word ‘guilty’ as he confirmed he was changing his plea on each count.
Afterwards, he sat slumped in his seat in the dock.
Judge Andrew Menary KC, The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, told Doyle that a ‘custodial sentence of some length’ was plainly ‘inevitable’ when he is sentenced next month.
