A former Royal Marine commando who ‘used his car as a weapon’ to mow down fans at Liverpool FC’s victory parade today sobbed in court after it emerged he has been charged with injuring two baby boys in the alleged attack.
Paul Doyle, 53, sobbed and wiped his eyes as he heard that he now faces trial in relation to injuries sustained by 29 supporters, including two infants, aged six months and seven months.
Six other children – five boys and one girl – aged between ten and 17 were also hurt when he allegedly drove a Ford Galaxy Titanium into fans as they made their way home from the Red’s title-winning celebrations on May 26 this year. The oldest alleged victim is a woman aged 77.
Dressed in a grey T-shirt, Doyle, a married father-of-three, appeared before Judge Andrew Menary at Liverpool Crown Court via video-link from prison this morning.
He struggled to confirm his name through tears after the clerk asked him to identify himself.
Doyle was originally charged with seven offences, but the court heard another 24 had since been added to the indictment.
He is facing 31 charges in total, including one of dangerous driving, one of affray, and 29 other grievous bodily harm (GBH)-related offences, including seven of causing GBH with intent, three of wounding with intent and 19 of attempted GBH.
Relatives of several alleged victims were in the public gallery in court for the hearing.
Simon Csoka KC, defending, applied for more time to consider the case.
He said Mr Doyle had only been served with the full list of charges this morning and had not had chance to properly assess the witness statements or ‘marry’ them with the timeline of his alleged driving.
Mr Csoka said his client was also waiting for a decision from prison authorities regarding his application for access to a laptop to help him view CCTV of events.
Judge Menary, the Recorder of Liverpool, agreed to adjourn the case until September 4 when Doyle, a former company director, will be expected to indicate a plea.
He said: ‘I’m willing to give you more time, these are serious matters that are not uncomplicated. I shall adjourn this plea and preparation hearing for a couple of weeks.’
The maximum sentence Doyle could face is life imprisonment.
At an earlier hearing, Philip Astbury, prosecuting, said Doyle had ‘deliberately’ ploughed into crowds who were making their way home up Water Street, moments after watching the Liverpool football team parade the Premier League trophy in front of the Royal Liver Building, along the city’s famous waterfront, around 6pm.
He said: ‘This defendant drove deliberately at people amongst that crowd as they tried to leave the area. The first count of dangerous driving reflects the manner of driving before and up until he used his vehicle deliberately as a weapon to injure those individuals.’
Doyle is being held in custody for his own protection. A trial date has been set for November.
Some 134 people were hurt when Doyle, of West Derby, allegedly tailgated an ambulance responding to a suspected heart attack victim through a roadblock and ploughed into crowds.
Shocking mobile phone footage showed supporters banging on the windows and doors of the Ford Galaxy before it smashed into supporters, catapulting several over the bonnet and trapping others under its wheels.
Detectives quickly ruled out terrorism as a motive and went public with some details of the suspect to head off misinformation swirling on social media within hours of the incident.
It is understood Doyle, a keen runner, passed out of the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre, also known as CTCRM, in 1991 and served with 43 Commando, the unit based in Arbroath, Scotland, that help secure the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
After leaving the forces, he went on to read psychology and maths at a Russell Group university before moving into cyber security roles.
A close friend previously told the Daily Mail that Doyle was not a football fan and had simply been dropping off a friend in the city centre as a favour when the incident occurred.
‘He is a nice lad,’ the friend said. ‘He has a heart of gold.’
