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Two men who killed an off-duty policeman on a Christmas night out have been released from prison - after just THREE years behind bars.

Constable Neil Doyle was felled by a punch, described by prosecutors as a "piledriver", while enjoying the festive season with colleagues from Merseyside Police in Liverpool city centre.

Now it has emerged those responsible, Andrew Taylor and Timmy Donovan , have recently become free men despite not even serving half the sentences they were handed.

Taylor and Donovan were sentenced to seven years and six months and six years and 10 months respectively after being found guilty of manslaughter by joint enterprise by a unanimous jury after a six-week trial.

Prosecutors claimed Andrew Taylor and Timmy Donovan - knowingly confronted the 36-year-old as a police constable, and baited him by saying: “Evening officer.”

(Image: Merseyside Police/PA Wire)

The word “officer” was repeated when Taylor was told to go away, with him responding, ‘That’s not very nice, officer,’ a trial was told.

Neither Donovan, 30 – a sports-event manager from Childwall – nor football consultant Taylor, 29, of Huyton , admitted throwing the fatal punch, which ruptured PC Doyle’s vertebral artery and led to bleeding on the brain.

Sarah Doyle, the constable's widow, received a phone call last Friday from Ministry of Justice officials to inform her Taylor had been allowed out, on licence.

She received a similar message to warn her of Donovan's release last month.

The Walton woman was described as "devastated" by the news, but did not wish to comment further.

But a close friend told the ECHO: "Sarah has wanted to be kept updated about her husband's killers whereabouts.

"The family was aware the defendants would serve 50% of their sentences, but to now have both men out of jail, just a few years after they were imprisoned is very hard to take.

"Sarah has always believed the men who attacked her husband were aware he was a police officer, which was an aggravating feature of the case.

"Where is the deterrent to stop these people behaving like this?

"Those people who police our country and keep law and order out on our streets should be better protected."

Today, the Ministry of Justice said people like PC Doyle's widow had opted in to getting updates about the defendants as part of the Victim Contact Scheme.

And features of it, including non-contact orders and exclusion zones, were all used to help victims and their families.

A spokesman was set to comment further later today.

The two men were also found guilty of the wounding with intent of PC Doyle’s colleague, PC Robert Marshall and Taylor was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to PC Michael Steventon.

The newly-married officer died after he was struck during a confrontation in Colquitt Street in the early hours of Friday, December 19, 2014.

The street attack took place outside the Aloha Bar, killing PC Doyle and injuring his colleagues, part of which was captured on CCTV and showed PC Marshall being kicked and punched.

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Taylor, a football consultant for the Wasserman Media Group, and Donovan, who fled the country after the attack and had his mugshot circulated by detectives as a wanted man, claimed they had been acting in self-defence in the belief that they were coming under attack from the officers.

Mrs Doyle has previously started a petition, calling on the Crown Prosecution Service to bring charges over all assaults on officers, amid claims those crimes are under-reported.

She also asked for the jail sentences handed to Taylor and Donovan to be reviewed as she considered them “unduly lenient.”

Today, the Ministry of Justice said all offenders always serve at least half of their sentences, and added that time spent on remand would often be subtracted from overall jail tarriffs.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “This was a tragic death and our thoughts remain with the family and friends of PC Doyle.

“Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, most prisoners must be automatically released from prison at the halfway point of their sentence to go on probation for the remainder.

“But no one is released from prison without a tough risk-assessment, close monitoring, and strict licence conditions which if breached can lead to more time behind bars.”