A man who killed a British Army veteran with three punches outside a pub in Stoke-on-Trent has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Gregory Twigg, 32, attacked Lee Woodward, 39, a former soldier who had retired on medical grounds after serving in Iraq.
The incident occurred in June 2022 outside The Liquor Vaults pub. Twigg, who had consumed cocaine, vodka and sambuca, got out of a car after the driver pulled over and punched Mr Woodward repeatedly. CCTV footage showed Mr Woodward, who was over six feet tall, being knocked to the ground and struggling to get up like a 'dazed boxer'. The second punch sent him into a parked car, and the third left him unconscious in the road.
Mr Woodward suffered severe brain damage and died in hospital ten months later from peritonitis and pneumonia. Twigg had already been serving an eight-year and three-month sentence for grievous bodily harm after pleading guilty in September 2022 while Mr Woodward was still alive.
At the murder trial, Twigg claimed he only intended to give Mr Woodward a black eye and punched him twice more because he feared being hit back. However, the prosecution argued that Twigg was 'fired up on drink and coke and raging' and that Mr Woodward posed no threat. The jury convicted him of murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
