Former jockey Levi Williams has been sentenced to three years in prison for the manslaughter of 71-year-old Richard Wingrove, who died after being punched outside a pub in Newmarket, Suffolk.
Fatal altercation
Mr Wingrove sustained a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain after falling and hitting his head during an altercation on March 8, 2025, and passed away 10 days later in hospital. The incident occurred after Mr Wingrove and his son were ejected from the Waggon and Horses pub, leading to a confrontation with Williams and a friend, both jockeys.
Court ruling
While the judge acknowledged Williams was not the initial aggressor, he ruled that the final, fatal punch to a vulnerable man, while Williams was intoxicated and had taken cocaine, was not justifiable. Detective Constable Hannah Barrett described Mr Wingrove's death, which happened while he was celebrating his birthday, as a “completely avoidable act of violence” that caused immense devastation.
