A jockey has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after he beat a 71-year-old to death following a violent confrontation outside a Suffolk pub last year.
Levi Williams, 26, entered a guilty plea to manslaughter at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday after prosecutors accepted the lesser charge, dropping the original murder accusation.
Richard Wingrove died on March 18 last year, 10 days after the incident outside the Wagon and Horses pub on Newmarket High Street.
The pensioner never regained consciousness after sustaining injuries during the altercation on March 8 and his life support was eventually switched off.
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Williams, who resides in Holland Park, Newmarket, was granted bail and will return to court for sentencing on June 4.
The court heard that Williams struck Mr Wingrove at least twice during the brawl, which erupted at approximately 3.40pm.
One blow was directed at the elderly man's chest, causing him to collapse onto the pavement and into the road.
It was this fall that resulted in the fatal head injury from which Mr Wingrove would never recover.
A jockey has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after he beat a 71-year-old to death following a violent confrontation outside a Suffolk pub last year
|GETTY
Emergency services rushed to the scene following reports of a disturbance involving four people on the high street.
Mr Wingrove was transported to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge in a critical state.
Two other men also sustained injuries during the incident and received hospital treatment before being discharged.
Williams had been watching horse racing in the pub garden with a fellow jockey when the confrontation unfolded.
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Williams, who resides in Holland Park, Newmarket, was granted bail and will return to court for sentencing on June 4
|GETTY
The two jockeys were leaving to catch a taxi back to work when they became embroiled in a dispute with the Wingroves.
Prosecutor Peter Gair told an earlier hearing at Cambridge Crown Court that this encounter "resulted in a physical punching fight in the high street".
Williams had been attempting to revive his racing career prior to his arrest, having accumulated 12 victories from 156 rides during his time in the sport.
His mother, Hayley Williams, previously told the court that becoming a jockey had been her son's ambition "since he was knee high", and he departed the family home aged 16 to attend the British Racing School.
Levi Williams entered a guilty plea to manslaughter at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday
|However, his career had been marred by disciplinary issues, including an 18-month ban imposed in September 2023 after testing positive for cocaine for the second time.
A BHA judicial panel heard he had taken the drug in a pub toilet three days before a race.
He had previously received a six-month suspension in 2021 for cocaine and cannabis use.
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