Liverpool Crown Court heard how Paul Doyle, who has been jailed for over 21 years after the incident at the Liverpool FC victory parade in May, has a previous conviction for biting someone’s ear off.

Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, said Doyle was jailed for 12 months in November 1994 for causing grievous bodily harm after biting off the ear of another man in a fight in July the previous year. When he was interviewed by police earlier this year after the parade incident, he said he had become involved in a drunken fight with sailors.

The final previous offences he was convicted of before his guilty pleas last month were a minor offence of dishonesty and breach of the peace in Scotland in December 1993, the court heard.

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of prosecution counsel Paul Greaney KC speaking as Paul Doyle wipes away tears as he appears at Liverpool Crown Court | Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire

placeholder image — Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of prosecution counsel Paul Greaney KC speaking as Paul Doyle wipes away tears as he appears at Liverpool Crown Court | Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire

Mr Greaney said between the ages of 18 and 22 Doyle was convicted of offences, including serious violence. He said: “The prosecution recognises that in the 30 years between his release from prison in May 1995 and his dreadful actions on May 26 2025, the defendant had taken steps to live a positive and productive life.

“During that period, he was convicted of no offences. He went to university. He worked, including in positions of responsibility. He had a family. Those efforts to rehabilitate himself after a difficult early adulthood only serve to make more shocking and tragic what he did in Liverpool that day this May.”

Doyle cried in the dock as Mr Greaney spoke.