Favour for pal ended in carnage after ex-Marine crashed into Liverpool fans
Ex Marine Paul Doyle set out on his doomed journey, which left 134 people hurt at the Liverpool victory parade, to do a favour for a friend. But his trip ended with “an act of calculated violence” after he became ‘increasingly agitated by the crowds’. His rage was captured on his own dashcam.
The 54-year-old had travelled into the city in his Ford Galaxy Titanium to pick up his footy fan pal, who was from the Preston area but had attended the parade. After leaving his home in a pleasant cul-de-sac in Croxteth, Liverpool, his own footage captured him behaving recklessly behind the wheel for almost the entire journey, reports the Daily Mirror.
He then ploughed into crowds gathered in the city to celebrate the football team’s Premier League title win. Doyle had followed an ambulance onto Water Street after a road block was temporarily lifted for crews to attend to a person having a heart attack.
Dashcam footage from Doyle’s car showed his growing impatience as he approached Dale Street and Water Street. “Rather than wait for them to pass, he deliberately drove at them, forcing his way through,” said Sarah Hammond, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire.
His car had almost collided with one fan crossing the road and as he was chased by fans shocked by his driving, he headed bumper-first towards the pedestrianised zone.
Amid the carnage a woman was thrown onto the bonnet, then into the windscreen and over the top of the vehicle, landing on its other side. The 26-year-old dental student rushed to the aid of this victim and used her medical training to stem the flow of blood. Her partner joined horrified fans chasing after Doyle as he continued onwards in his path of destruction, hurtling towards yet more pedestrians.
The youngest victim was Teddy Eveson, whose parents later told how he was thrown 15 feet down the road in his pram. Miraculously he survived. Teddy’s dad Daniel Eveson, 36, told how his tiny child’s pram vanished before his and his partner Sheree Aldridge’s eyes.
The dad who thought his little family were “going to die” and recalled the driver was screaming and “delirious” afterwards. He said it was nothing short of a “miracle” they all survived and his little five month old baby boy, he now calls ‘Super Ted,’ escaped unscathed.
“He’s our miracle. He’s ‘Super Ted’. I keep crying every time I hold him. I can’t believe we’ve still got him, he didn’t even break a finger” Daniel told The Mirror after it happened.
He told how his fiancee was treated in hospital in Liverpool for muscle and tissue damage and lacerations after she dived out of the way. Talking about after the incident he said the suspect was set upon and he said: “He was just screaming, ‘get off, get away.’ He seemed delirious, he just seemed like he didn’t know where he was. It’s a miracle that no one lost their lives. “
He recalled how they were heading back to their car after seeing the bus. Daniel said he thought there was a fight in front of them so he said to his partner they should get out of the way.
“And then as soon as two people moved out of the clearing in front of me, I saw the car and I thought, ‘s**t, s**t. s**t. He’s coming for us, and he did,” he said. “I thought we were all going to die.
“I basically held the pram but the pram got took out of my hands and my hands went on the bonnet to try and stop the car. Then Sheree went up on the bonnet and then dropped off and then went under it.
“I looked to my side to see her and she just wasn’t there,” he said, breaking down in tears and adding: “Oh my God it was just horrible. I just want justice.”
He explained how the car “went over her leg and she got dragged down the road”. He later said of their miracle lad: “Every time I’ve picked him up since I’ve been home, to feed him, to change his nappy, to give him love, I’ve cried my eyes out, because I just can’t believe he’s still there looking at me.
“To me looking and finding his pram, to not knowing if he was alive, to seeing him alive, it was a lot to take on. I thought I had lost everything, I really did.”
When Doyle’s car finally came to a halt, the crowd descended upon him en masse and attempted to force the doors open. The police managed to descend and grab Doyle getting him away and into a nearby van.
Fire crews arrived to find four people trapped under the vehicle, including a child. Doyle was initially accused of being under the influence but it later emerged he was sober.
At Liverpool crown court he has now admitted dangerous driving, affray and 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, nine counts of causing GBH with intent.
The dad of three sobbed as he changed his plea, wiping away tears. He has been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing. Doyle was born on November 4, 1971, he had enlisted in the armed forces fresh out of school as a teenager and served in the Royal Marines.
He was part of the 43 Commando unit, based at RM Condor on the east coast of Scotland and claimed online to have spent more than four years with the Marines.
But a source within the forces has disputed this, with his tenure having seemingly only lasting for one year and 10 months before he found himself out of service aged 21.
Doyle later studied psychology and maths at the University of Liverpool and, after a brief spell as a manager at McDonald’s as part of the fast food giant’s graduate scheme, he entered the IT industry, He worked for a number of companies as a network security engineer.
By May of 2025, Doyle, according to his own LinkedIn page, was working as acting head of cyber and volunteering as an ethical hacker to help “smaller companies become more secure”.
His CV, coupled with social media pages which showed him posing with his wife and children on holiday and competing at fitness competitions around the world, painted a picture of a hard working family man.
In 2017, he set up his own business, Far Out Caps, where he designed and sold a small range of headwear, each stamped with his fledgling brand’s logo.
“I doubt I will ever be able to afford a Lambo, but it genuinely makes me happy when I make a sale, as it means that somebody actually likes my designs,” Doyle wrote on a website which advertised his hats.
But those who knew Doyle have been adamant in his defence. Four of his neighbours said his family had been left suffering in the wake of what happened.
“My perception of Paul is a family man, a really good neighbour, and all I can say is that I cannot help but think something triggered a panic in that moment,” one man said. “I don’t know how he ended up where he was. Who knows?
“They’re a really nice family. He meditates, doesn’t drink, and he would go out on the grass outside in his bare feet to ground himself.”
Another neighbour added: “The kids have been through hell. They can’t even leave their house any more because of this. The poor family had to move away when it first happened, because they were just getting harassed.”
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