A man who had his ear bitten off by Liverpool parade attacker Paul Doyle over 30 years ago has broken his silence.
Stuart Lucas, a Royal Navy reservist at the time, told how he bravely stepped in to stop the well-built thug, then in the Royal Marines, from assaulting younger colleagues.
Mr Lucas recalled: ‘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.’
Commando-trained Doyle, 54, was last week sentenced to 21 years and six months in prison for driving into crowds at Liverpool FC’s title victory parade in the city last May, injuring 130 people.
He admitted dangerous driving, affray and 29 other GBH-related charges in connection with the incident.
Mr Lucas revealed that 31 years earlier, trouble flared at motorway services when Doyle decked two young naval ratings with a flying kick after being challenged about his drunken behaviour.
Mr Lucas, a leading hand, bravely stepped in, gripping Doyle in a bear hug – but the powerfully-built marine turned his head and sank his teeth into his ear.
Doyle was later jailed for 12 months over the incident, which happened at Charnock Richard services on the M6, in Lancashire, in 1994.
Doyle – one of only two marines in a bus with 28 sailors being taken to Barry in South Wales to sail the minesweeper HMS Dovey to Glasgow – had been drinking heavily.
Royal Navy reservist Stuart Lucas held powerfully-built then Royal Marine Paul Doyle in a bear hug to stop him assaulting colleagues – when he turned and bit the sailor’s ear off
When a trouble erupted between unstable Doyle and the sailors, Mr Lucas, now 68 and a retired teacher, recalled: ‘Being a killick (leading hand), I went to see what was going on.
‘I saw Doyle running and doing a flying kick which laid two of the lads out, so then I went in and gave him a bear hug, strapping his arms to his sides.
‘That stopped him, he couldn’t do anything and I thought, this is working, this is quite good, then he fell down.
‘I still had him in a bear hug which was good, everything seemed to be going well and he couldn’t move apart from swearing.
‘But he could move his head and at that he promptly sunk his teeth into my ear and said, “let go”.’
Mr Lucas, who remains disfigured from the attack, said Doyle and another Royal Marine had only been attached to the sailors because they were short of crew.
He said: ‘We were short of men to man the boat so we pinched two from the marines, more as ballast than anything else.’
Mr Lucas, a father-of-one, served in the Royal Navy for 12 years, reaching the rate of leading radio operator before joining the Royal Naval Reserve, which was when the incident happened.
Paul Doyle after his arrest for driving into crowds at Liverpool FC’s victory parade in May
Describing his injury, he said: ‘It’s called a “biter” in Liverpool, we were told. He could have done it without biting through.’
Mr Lucas, who lives in East Lothian, added: ‘The guys were getting their composure back and I was in a bit of shock as I stood there with the blood gushing out of my ear.
‘Somebody dealt with me and others dealt with him so the lads went looking for my ear and found it.
‘I got whisked away in an ambulance with part of my ear in a bag, took it to a hospital with me and got kept in overnight.
‘They had a go at reattaching it and I got the train back home. I had to go to Gartnavel Hospital (in Glasgow) where they took the bandage off and said, whoah, your ear is dead, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
Mr Lucas, a Masters student at Strathclyde University at the time, turned down the chance of having his ear rebuilt, as it would have taken months.
He went to Preston Crown Court with four others later that year, where Doyle was jailed after admitting grievous bodily harm and threatening behaviour.
Mr Lucas added: ‘He got a year and we got thanked for coming down and went home.
Stuart Lucas’s left ear was left disfigured after the attack by Paul Doyle in 1994
‘It was exceptional I guess; you have two guys on the bus with 28 navy guys and they shouldn’t have been trying to take over or cause trouble.
‘It was most strange and I couldn’t believe it. It was all a bit crazy the way it happened.
‘As I was the killick I thought I’d better go, they’re needing a hand and all that, but nobody expected what went on.
‘I controlled him till he bit my ear off. He just floored the two of them. He was a pretty fit guy.
‘I think when I came out he didn’t see me, I was just a wee one and therefore I could just walk round the back of him while he was focussed on the other two and put the bear hug on him.
‘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.’
Doyle’s attack on Mr Lucas was one of several violent attacks which led to him being discharged from the Royal Marines.
Mr Lucas added: ‘Speaking of the Liverpool attack, there’s your link. Everyone at the parade was all happy and he was the one that was unhappy.
‘And in our little scenario everyone was happy, we were going to earn some money, have a drink going down to do what we do at weekends and then all hell broke loose. And that has never happened before, or since.
‘It was beyond our ken. What are my feelings towards him now? Nothing really. I saw him on the telly and they showed a vibrant youthful person – when he was happy.
‘Liverpool and I saw the other version.’
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LANCASHIRE EVENING POST REPORT OF PAUL DOYLE SENTENCING FOR ATTACK ON STUART LUCAS – NOVEMBER 4th, 1994
Newspaper cutting of report about Doyle’s sentencing 31 years ago for attack on Stuart Lucas
A Royal Marine reserve who bit part of a sailor’s ear off during a fight at a Lancashire service station has been jailed for 12 months.
Preston Crown Court heard how Paul Doyle, 23, became involved in a fight with Navy reserve officers at Charnock Richard services on the M6.
While grappling with Stuart Lucas on the floor, he sunk his teeth into Mr Lucas’s ear, biting the top part off.
Doyle, of Bowgreave Avenue, Breightmet, Bolton, who was discharged from the Marines after the incident, was jailed after pleading guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and using threatening behaviour.
Alexander Thomson, 24, of Dunchatton Street, Denniston, Glasgow, formerly a Royal Marine reserve, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour. He was fined £300.
Mr Keith Thomas, prosecuting. said Thomson and Doyle were travelling with 30 Navy reserves from their base in Scotland to Barry in South Wales.
During the coach journey, a considerable amount of alcohol was drunk and when the coach pulled up at the services Doyle was seen to throw a plastic bottle of urine at one of the Navy reserves.
This triggered a scuffle in which Thomson was involved, but eventually it calmed down.
Mr Thomas said Mr Lucas, from Ayr in Scotland, had been left disfigured by the injury but hoped to have cosmetic surgery. His hearing had not been affected.
Mr Ian Dacre, defending Doyle, said he had originally been acting in self-defence when fighting with Mr Lucas, but accepted he had gone too far.
Mr Nicholas Courtney, defending Thomson, said Thomson’s behaviour had been no worse than that of the Navy reserves.
