The man accused of deliberately driving into a crowd during Liverpool’s Premier League trophy parade now faces an additional 24 charges as more than 130 people, including children, were injured when he drove into hordes of fans at the celebrations on 26 May.
As mentioned, north of 100 people were injured when a Ford Galaxy, with Paul Doyle – a 53-year-old from Croxteth, Liverpool – behind the wheel, ploughed into a crowd of jubilant Reds supporters on Water Street, which is situated in Liverpool city centre.
It was an act that managed to cloud over what should’ve been such a memorable occasion for fans of Liverpool – and, at the end of May, Doyle’s neighbours spoke out about his personal life, suggesting the act of madness was “completely out of character”.
Liverpool Parade Update: Doyle Faces 24 Extra Charges
Initially, Doyle was charged with seven offences – two counts of wounding with intent, two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, two counts of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent, and one count of dangerous driving. The new indictment, which was not read out at Liverpool Crown Court, has been upped to 31 counts relating to 29 victims, aged between six months and 77 years old.
Six of the new alleged offences relate to alleged victims who were babies at the time of the incident (one six months old and one seven months old), proceedings at Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday 14 August.
Doyle now faces 17 counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, five counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, three counts of wounding with intent, one count of dangerous driving and one count of affray.
According to Sky News, Doyle was in tears during his court appearance. The accused was not asked to enter pleas to any charges after his barrister, Simon Csoka KC, asked for additional time for his legal team to consider the new counts as, according to Csoka, Doyle had only seen details of the new charges shortly before the hearing, which lasted around 20 minutes.
As a result, neither party had the chance to read through new witness statements. After Doyle’s defence successfully argued that he was unable to analyse the evidence against him, the case was adjourned and Thursday’s plea hearing was rescheduled by Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC until 4 September, 2025 – and that is when Doyle is expected to enter pleas.
The Premier League champions were celebrating their 20th league title win in an open-top bus parade through the centre of the football-crazed city. Footage soon circulated on social media, which showed the police’s sharp response to apprehend the driver.