Michaela Howard
reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Paul Doyle is occasionally looking down as the judge reads through a summary of the victim impact statements.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Judge Menary has been outlining the impact of the parade attack on the city of Liverpool and its people.

"You actions caused horror and devastation on a scale never previously seen before these courts," he told Doyle.

"You did not accept responsibility for your actions, nor did you acknowledge the obvious risk you created or the harm you caused.

"You sought instead to minimise blame."

The judge now goes through each victim outlined on the indictment, and is briefly summarising the injuries they suffered.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Judge Andrew Menary KC, who is the Recorder of Liverpool, said the account given by Doyle in his interview, claiming he had acted in a state of panic due to the acts of the crowd, was "demonstrably untrue".

"The 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.

"They 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."

He said the crowds were "desperate to stop a moving threat they could not understand".

The judge stressed: "The chaos that unfolded was caused solely by your driving and any attempt to place the responsibility on the public or the Liverpool fans present is wholly unfounded and unfair."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Judge Andrew Menary KC continues: "Your driving into the city was routinely dangerous... from the outset your driving was aggressive and dangerous.

"Between 5.59 and 6.01pm you used your vehicle as a weapon "driving into and over more than 100 people.

"The footage is truly shocking. It shows you quite deliberately accelerating....drove over limbs...crushed prams...

"A number of witnesses including serving police officers said you continued to accelerate."

Judge Menary speaks about the actions of Daniel Barr, who brought the car to a stop.

"His actions prevented further injury and may well have saved lives."

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Judge Andrew Menary KC launches straight into his sentencing remarks.

He outlines the background of the parade, and describes how Doyle drove "dangerously" into the city centre.

"You made the conscious choice to drive past the cones and into the heart of the crowd," he said.

"In 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.

“The footage is truly shocking. It is difficult if not impossible to convey in words alone the scenes of devastation you caused."

"It shows you deliberately accelerating into groups of fans, time and time again."

Judge Andrew Menary KC is now sentencing Paul Doyle.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Mr Csoka asks for credit for pleading guilty to be increased slightly due to the unusual features of the case.

"For the last 32 years the defendant has led his life very differently from what the court has heard of his life up to the age of 22," he said.

"Upon his release from prison he transformed his life by going to university. He has worked hard since then, and had a successful career in IT, he raised a family with his wife and has three children.

"The court has been provided with a large number of character references."

Mr Csoka said Doyle was "very active in his community".

"He has engaged on a number of occasions with charity fundraising.

He said people describe Doyle as a "generous, selfless man".

"It’s part of the paradox of this case that how they know him is so different to the way he behaved.

"They all find his actions incomprehensible and so utterly unlike the man that they know.

"Again that perhaps fed into the difficulty the defendant had in recognising what he did and accepting what he did,

"We can only emphasise again the deep sorrow and shame the defendant feels.

"We accept those are only words."

That concludes the defence mitigation.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Mr Csoka says it has taken Paul Doyle several months "to recognise mentally what he did".

He said: "He’s appalled by his own conduct, the spiralling effect of his conduct was utterly unexpected by him and utterly unexpected by all those who know him well.

"There has been a period of denial…there clearly has been an avoidance of reality and that’s a well recognised phenonomen when an individual is involved in an unexpected event such as this, even when it was his responsibilty.

"The defendant wasn’t able immediately to reconcile the man that he has been for the last 30 years with the way he behaved on 26 May - in the same way that nobody who knows him well could believe it, neither could he for some time."

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Doyle's legal representative Mr Csoka suggests his client did not leave home with the intention of using his car as a weapon.

"This is not a case in which there was targeting, as it were," he argued.

"I emphasise that relativistic submissions are deeply unattractive... but it must be said that when looked at individually... sadly much more serious injuries are often before the court."

He said those submissions were not intended to diminish the suffering of any victim.

But he suggests that GBH can often involve paralysis, blindness or other permanent conditions.

Mr Csoka said Doyle accepted it was “extremely fortunate” that the consequences of his actions were “not as grave as they might have been”.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Defence barrister Mr Csoka tells the court: "The paradox of that day is [that] he was doing a favour for a friend.

"It was an ordinary day; he did not have any motive in the ordinary sense to cause serious injury, nor did he have desire in the ordinary sense to cause serious injury."

Csoka said the defence accepts that serious injury was however a "virtual certainty" after Doyle's decision to drive at the crowd.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Judge Andrew Menary KC returns to court following a brief adjournment.

We will now hear from Simon Csoka KC, representing Paul Doyle.

He begins by saying Doyle is "horrified" by his actions.

"He’s remorseful, ashamed and deeply sorry for all those who have suffered," he said.

"He accepts full responsibility, he expects no sympathy."

Ian Shoesmith
Live page editor

Following a short break at Liverpool Crown Court, we're now about to hear from Paul Doyle's barrister Simon Csoka KC.

He will put forward points of mitigation to the judge, with the aim of reducing the size of the sentence that will be handed down to Doyle.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Mr Greaney suggests Paul Doyle's offending is further aggravated by the injuries to emergency service workers including paramedic James Vernon.

He said: "The prosecution submits that the sheer scale of the offending of Paul Doyle on 26 May 2025 and the extent of injury caused by him takes his case well outside the sentence range that would be appropriate for any single case."

That concludes the prosecution submissions for sentence.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC is addressing Judge Andrew Menary KC about the sentencing guidelines that form the basis of judges' decision making.

He said: "The prosecution submits that in respect of each offence viewed individually, the culpability of the defendant is high.

"Some of the victims were vulnerable by reason of age. Some were young... some were in a sense vulnerable because they were pedestrians at whom a large vehicle was driven.

"Furthermore, the defendant used the equivalent of a highly dangerous weapon.

"He drove a vehicle weighing not far short of two tonnes into and over members of the public."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Some of those listening in the public gallery are shaking their heads as they hear about Paul Doyle's previous offences, including biting a sailor's ear off in a fight.

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Detailing Paul Doyle's previous convictions, Mr Greaney said he had offences involving "serious violence" on his record that had been committed between the ages of 18 and 22.

"As a matter of principle, those convictions tend to aggravate the seriousness of the current offending," he told the court.

"However, as against that, the prosecution recognises that in the 30 years between his release from prison in May 1995 and his dreadful actions on 26 May 2025, the defendant had taken steps to live a positive and productive life.

"During that period, he was convicted of no offences. He went to university. He worked, including in positions of responsibility. He had a family.

"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."

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Prosecutor Mr Greaney told Liverpool Crown Court Paul Doyle has both military and civilians convictions on his record.

On 12 December 1989, when in the Royal Engineers, he committed a military offence that equated with common assault. Two days later, he was made subject to seven days’ detention.

He was also convicted of a "minor offence of dishonesty".

In October 1991, he "struck another person several times in the face with a clenched fist."

Mr Greaney said: "In interview following his arrest in connection with the current offences, the defendant said that he had a scuffle with men in a nightclub which resulted in him being thrown out.

"The men he had scuffled with were waiting and he got the better of them."

Greaney said on 31 March 1992, "no doubt because of his military offending", the defendant was placed on a six-month formal warning for "Services No Longer Required" (SNLR) discharge.

Then came the conviction for the GBH offence, and his discharge was confirmed.

On 3 November 1994, after his discharge and while serving for a short period in the Royal Marine Reserve, Doyle was again convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and jailed for 12 months at Preston Crown Court.

Greaney said: "The offences occurred on 2 July 1993 and involved the defendant biting off the ear of another man in a fight.

"When interviewed by the police in connection with the current offences, the defendant explained that he had become involved in a drunken fight with sailors."

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Prosecutor Mr Greaney said Doyle enlisted in the Royal Marines on 11 March 1991, at the age of 19, following a short period in the Royal Engineers.

He signed up for 22 years’ service in the Marines.

However Doyle was discharged on 20 January 1993, just 22 months after enlisting,

Greaney said: "Neither during his period in the Royal Engineers nor during his period in the Royal Marines did the defendant see active service."

He was discharged from the Royal Marines on a basis that is commonly referred to as “SNLR” or “Services No Longer Required”.

Greaney said: "In other words, the Marines no longer wished to retain him. The service records reveal that the defendant challenged his SNLR discharge, but was unsuccessful in doing so.

"Understanding the reason why the defendant was discharged takes us to his convictions."

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Lead prosecution counsel Paul Greaney, KC, is speaking again.

He turns to Doyle's past.

Mr Greaney said: "As a young man, the defendant served with the Royal Engineers and then with the Royal Marines for a period.

"It is important to understand something about that service. That is so for several reasons, including: First, because the defendant’s record of criminal convictions, to which we will turn, is interwoven with his military service.

"Second, because the media has repeatedly referred to the defendant as a former Marine in its reporting and there is a strong public interest in the public understanding that the evidence reveals no link between the defendant’s military service and his crimes."

Jonny Humphries
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

The final victim statement is from former soldier Daniel Barr, 41, who jumped into Paul Doyle's car and managed to bring it to a stop.

"I have had my fair share of high pressure, traumatic and dangerous situations," he said.

"These include tours of Iraq as a soldier, actively searching for [Improvised Explosive Devices], as well as other struggles and traumas since leaving the forces.

"All of these traumas I have kept underlying for years, I have managed to keep them under wraps to a degree.

"But since that day it has brought everything to the surface, and I find I can no longer put a mask on and carry on as normal."

He described struggling to sleep and finding himself "quick to anger".

"My family have noticed this change in me," he said.

"I snap at them and can be aggressive in my tone and thoughts."

He said he felt nervous about potentially giving evidence in court.

"All I focused on was my part in that day.

"I tried to avoid hearing or reading too much about it so I really don’t know much else about exactly what he did that day, but maybe now I can start to find out some more which might help me process it and deal with it."