A former Royal Navy reservist has described how the Liverpool parade attacker bit through part of his ear, chewed it up and spat it out more than 30 years ago.
1994 Assault Preceded Recent Sentencing
Stuart Lucas told the Daily Mail that he intervened to stop Paul Doyle from assaulting younger Royal Navy Reserve sailors at a service station on the M6. The altercation began after the younger sailors challenged Doyle, then a Royal Marine, over his drunken behaviour, according to the newspaper.
Doyle was sentenced to a year in jail following the 1994 attack, one of several violent offences that contributed to his recent conviction. On Tuesday, Doyle, 54, was jailed for 21 years and six months after pleading guilty to 31 offences related to a crash on May 26th, in which 134 people were injured when he drove into crowds on Water Street in Liverpool city centre.
Recounting the 1994 incident at Charnock Richard services in Lancashire, Mr. Lucas said, “It was so painful I let go and then when I did let him go, he bit through it, chewed it up and spat it out.” Doyle was traveling with 28 sailors on a bus to Barry, South Wales, to join HMS Dovey and sail to Glasgow.
Mr. Lucas, a leading hand at the time, witnessed Doyle, then 23, “doing a flying kick which laid two of the lads out.” He then “gave him a bear hug, strapping his arms to his sides” to subdue Doyle. However, Doyle was able to move his head and “promptly sunk his teeth into my ear and said, ‘let go.’”
The father-of-one, who now lives in East Lothian, Scotland, explained that the technique is known as a “biter” in Liverpool, and Doyle could have inflicted it without biting through the ear. “I’m sure he was trying to gouge someone’s eye out as well. It was all very quick and pretty serious what he did,” Mr. Lucas added.
Mr. Lucas said he was left in shock with blood gushing from his head while other sailors searched for the missing piece of his ear. After it was found, he was taken to a hospital where it was reattached. He was later discharged and went to a hospital in Glasgow, where doctors determined his ear was beyond repair. Mr. Lucas, who was studying for a master’s degree at Strathclyde University at the time, declined reconstructive surgery due to the lengthy recovery period.
Previous Violent Offences
Details of Doyle’s prior offences were presented during his sentencing hearing for the parade crash. In October 1991, at the conclusion of his training at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, Doyle engaged in a “scuffle” with men in a nightclub and subsequently punched another person in the face after being ejected. He was convicted of a section 20 assault and fined by Exeter Magistrates’ Court.
In February 1992, he was convicted of two military offences: using violence against a superior officer and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline. In July of the same year, he was convicted of a military offence equivalent to criminal damage. Doyle served in the military for four years, initially with the Royal Engineers before joining the Marines in 1991, but did not participate in active service.
He was “discharged with services no longer required” in 1993, 22 months after enlisting, and unsuccessfully challenged the discharge. In November 1994, Doyle was jailed for 12 months for causing grievous bodily harm to Mr. Lucas.
During an interview earlier this year, Doyle stated he had been involved in a drunken fight with sailors.
Following his release from prison in 1995, Doyle reportedly “took steps to live a positive and productive life,” pursuing higher education, holding responsible positions, and starting a family.
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