Killer Gregory Twigg, 32, (Image: PA)
A cocaine-fuelled thug who murdered an Iraq War veteran in a ferocious street attack has been jailed for life. Gregory Twigg, 32, landed three “powerful and cowardly” punches on medically-retired British Army veteran Lee Woodward, in a savage assault which left him severely brain damaged. He died 10 months later.
Twigg, who was already serving an eight-year and three-month prison sentence, after pleading guilty in September 2022 to grievous bodily harm with intent for the attack on Mr Woodward, has now been told he must serve at least 11 years behind bars. At his sentencing hearing Twigg was criticised by the judge for “stringing out” the case by pleading not guilty to murder, extending and amplifying the anguish of his victim’s partner and stepdaughters.
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In victim impact statements read to Stafford Crown Court on Friday, relatives of the 39-year-old victim described their feelings of pain and anguish during Mr Woodward’s “deterioration” in hospital.
Mr Woodward was someone who “kept his family strong”, they said.
The trial was told Mr Woodward had been on a night out with his fiancee Kate Griffin when he became embroiled in a row that would end his life.
In her victim impact statement to the court, Ms Griffin said: “My boy and us as a family went through hell.”
She added that the injuries caused to her partner had been “severe and cruel” and watching his condition worsen in hospital had been “absolutely horrific”.
Twigg, who admitted he had taken cocaine and had drunk vodka and sambuca, told his trial he had become angry after Mr Woodward had allegedly sworn at and threatened him and his friends as they were driving past him on their way to a night out.
Undated handout photo issued by Staffordshire Police of Iraq War veteran Lee Woodward who was punche (Image: PA)
The driver, Nathan Lockley, pulled the car over and a confrontation ensued, with Twigg leaping from the back seat of the vehicle and unleashing three brutal blows on Mr Woodward.
David Mason KC said Twigg had been “fired up on drink and coke and raging” when he attacked Mr Woodward, who he said posed no threat to the defendant, after the first punch left him looking “like a highly dazed boxer”.
CCTV from a nearby pub captured Twigg knocking Mr Woodward, who was over six feet tall, to the ground, before a second punch knocked him into a parked car.
The third punch left him unconscious in the road and Twigg fled the scene with his friends. He was arrested less than an hour later in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Mr Woodward injuries were so severe doctors said he would have required full-time care in a nursing home for the rest of his life, but he died in April 2023 after contracting peritonitis and pneumonia in hospital.
Undated handout photo issued by Staffordshire Police of Iraq War veteran Lee Woodward who was punche (Image: PA)
Twigg insisted he never intended to cause Mr Woodward serious harm and had only wanted to give him a black eye so that he would leave him and his friends alone.
He said he punched him twice more because he feared Mr Woodward was going to hit him back, and he was “devastated” that his actions had resulted in his death.
But Ms Griffin said her partner of 10 years, who had been medically retired from the British Army after suffering a back injury while on a tour of Iraq, relied on strong medication and would never have started a fight because of his back pain.
It emerged in court that Twigg has three previous convictions for battery between 2014 and 2019 and was jailed for 30 months in 2020 for making threats to kill and burglary.
Ahmed Hossain KC, mitigating, told the court in mitigation: “Mr Twigg readily understands that he is going to receive a life sentence and offers remorse.
“He now understands not just the dreadful and tragic outcome of his violence but he also understands some of the triggers of that violence.”
Passing sentence on Twigg, formerly of Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent, Judge Roger Thomas KC ruled that the minimum term to be served from the point of sentencing would be 11 years.
The judge said the minimum term would have been 14 years, but time served and spent on remand meant it had to be reduced by three years.
The judge told Twigg: “Although you may regret the consequences of your unlawful violence in so far as the consequences are concerned for you, it is difficult to accept that you are truly remorseful in any wider sense.”
Twigg would have pleaded guilty to murder had he been truly remorseful for the “sustained and heavy” assault carried out in three stages, the judge said.
Speaking in July after the four-day murder trial, Detective Sergeant Garry Jackson said: “This is an extremely tragic case that has caused immeasurable pain and loss to Lee’s family.
“They have had to go through this ordeal in court on two separate occasions and I’m glad that we were able to secure this conviction for them after so much heartache.”