A 54-year-old man has been sentenced to 21 years and six months in prison after ploughing his car through a crowd of football supporters celebrating Liverpool FC's 2025 Premier League title win, injuring 134 people, including several children.

Paul Doyle followed an ambulance through a road barrier and proceeded to drive his minivan through the thousands-strong crowd in Liverpool city center on May 26, 2025, striking scores of people and running over others before a bystander managed to enter his vehicle and put it in park.

"You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the bonnet, drove over limbs, crushed prams and forced those nearby to scatter in terror," Judge Andrew Menary told Doyle in Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday.

"You ploughed on at speed and over a considerable distance, violently knocking people aside or simply driving over them, person after person after person," he continued. "Your actions caused horror and destruction on a scale which this court has never seen before."

Doyle, a former British Marine and married father of three, was arrested at the scene where, according to prosecutor Paul Greaney, he told police officers: "I've just ruined my family's life."

Liverpool parade incident: much simpler than terrorism

Despite clear similarities to numerous terrorist attacks which have seen cars rammed into crowds of people around Europe, police quickly ruled out terrorism as a motive. Prosecutor Greaney said the explanation for Doyle's actions was "as simple as the consequences were awful."

He said Doyle had driven into town to pick up a friend who had been at the open-top bus parade, and had completely lost his cool after becoming frustrated at the heavy traffic and road closures.

"He was a man in a rage, whose anger had completely taken hold of him," he said, while dashcam footage captured Doyle blaring his horn throughout the rampage, swearing and screaming: "Move! Move! Move!"

Doyle was instead charged with 31 counts of dangerous driving, attempting or causing grievous bodily harm, and intentional wounding. He pleaded guilty to all charges.

Liverpool parade defendant 'horrified, ashamed, remorseful'

Defense lawyer Simon Csoka said Doyle was "horrified, ashamed and remorseful" – although he did highlight his client's struggles following his discharge from the Marines, including a previous criminal conviction for biting off a sailor's ear during a drunken fight.

According to British newspaper The Times, Doyle had also complained about financial losses on cryptocurrency investments on social media, where an account reportedly linked to him followed figures including misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and billionaire X owner Elon Musk.

But having turned his life around with a university degree, steady IT job and family, he said Doyle didn't expect any sympathy after causing such harm.

"The distress of seeing the crowd scatter in panic and bodies being thrown into the air is something that will stay with me forever,” said Sergeant Dan Hamilton of Merseyside Police, who was injured in the incident.

"The noise was sickening, dull thuds that are difficult to describe and impossible to forget. I remember lying on the [ground] thinking: 'This is it; I'm going to die.'"

Edited by: Wesley Dockery