British jockey pleads guilty to manslaughter after pub fight leads to death of 71-year-old man

A 26-year-old jockey has admitted killing a man following a fight outside a pub in Newmarket, with the case turning on how a brief altercation led to a fatal fall.Levi Williams, of Holland Park in Newmarket, pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday after originally being charged with murder, with prosecutors accepting the lesser plea.

He was released on bail and is due to be sentenced on 4 June.The incident centres on the death of 71-year-old Richard Wingrove, who was injured during a confrontation outside the Waggon and Horses pub on 8 March 2025 and died ten days later in hospital.

What happened outside the pub

The court was told that a fight involving four men broke out at around 3:40pm outside the Waggon and Horses on Newmarket High Street. Earlier, Wingrove and his son had been removed from the pub by the landlord and then tried to re-enter.Williams, who had been drinking in the beer garden, and another man became involved in a confrontation with Wingrove’s son. During that sequence, Williams threw at least one punch towards Wingrove and struck him in the chest.That contact did not, in itself, prove fatal. Instead, the injury came from the fall that followed. Wingrove was knocked backwards, falling onto the pavement and into the road, where he suffered a head injury.

The court heard that it was this impact with the ground that caused the fatal damage.Emergency services took him to Addenbrooke's Hospital in a critical condition. He never regained consciousness, and life support was withdrawn ten days later.Two other men were injured in the altercation and taken to hospital before being discharged.

Arrests, charges and the court proceedings

Police arrested Williams at the scene on suspicion of assault causing grievous bodily harm.

After Wingrove’s condition worsened and he later died, Williams was re-arrested and charged with murder.At Peterborough Crown Court, that charge was reduced when prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter.

Two other men were also arrested in connection with the incident: a 24-year-old on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and a 45-year-old on suspicion of affray. Both have since been released under investigation as inquiries continue.Williams will return to court for sentencing in June.

A career interrupted

Williams works as a jockey in Newmarket, the centre of British horse racing, and had been attempting to rebuild his career at the time of the incident.He has ridden 12 winners from 156 rides, including four for trainer Simon Dow. In the months before his arrest, he had been serving an 18-month suspension handed down in September 2023 after testing positive for cocaine for a second time.

A British Horseracing Authority panel heard that he had taken the drug in a pub toilet three days before a race and had also consumed enough alcohol to be intoxicated.He had been due to return to racing in the week beginning 10 March 2025, days after the fight that led to Wingrove’s death.The case now moves to sentencing, where the court will decide how that sequence, beginning with a fight outside a pub and ending with a fatal fall, will be reflected in law.