Former Jockey Levi Williams has been jailed for the manslaughter of a pensioner he punched outside a pub, causing him to fall and strike his head on the ground.
Williams, 27, was sentenced to three years in prison for the manslaughter of Richard Wingrove, 71, who died in hospital 10 days after Williams punched him in Newmarket, Suffolk.
Prosecutor Jane Oldfield told Peterborough Crown Court that Mr Wingrove, who walked with a stick, and his son Jamie Wingrove, had been drinking in pubs in the town's high street on March 8, 2025.
She said that both Wingrove men were “separately ejected from the Waggon and Horses after disorderly and abusive behaviour towards staff”.
The barrister said Williams was at the pub with his friend Matthew Wilson, and both jockeys had been present while the Wingroves “were involved with altercations with the pub staff”.
She said that at 3.30pm a “physical altercation took place between Jamie Wingrove and the publican in the doorway” of the Waggon and Horses.
CCTV footage showed in court appeared to show the jockeys trying to block the man from coming in. When the two jockeys later left the pub, Ms Oldfield said there was a “verbal exchange between the defendant and the Wingroves”.
“The defendant can be seen throwing a punch at Jamie Wingrove then at Richard Wingrove,” she said.
She added that the older man fell to the floor but got back up and “rejoined the fray”. The altercation continued, and Ms Oldfield said that Williams “suddenly punched Richard Wingrove to the head causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement”.
Mr Wingrove died in hospital in Cambridge on March 18, having initially been placed in an induced coma after a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain. Ms Oldfield said that when he was arrested, Williams, now of Trefonen, Oswestry, Shropshire, “was described as drunk, shaken and saying words to the effect of 'it was an accident'”. She added that, “He tested positive for cocaine.”
Williams, who rode his last winner at Chelmsford in February 2023, said in an interview that he had had two to three pints of beer and that two men who were not known to him had been arguing with pub staff who refused to serve them.
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