Moment killer is led away in handcuffs after murdering train passenger, 24, with a horseshoe in row over loud music
THIS is the moment a killer was led away in handcuffs after murdering a train passenger with a horseshoe in a row over loud music.
Kirkpatrick Virgo, 42, from Slough, was found guilty of murder after he hit Thomas Parker, 24, in the back of the head with the horseshoe on the Elizabeth Line train from Paddington.
Virgo asked Thomas and his companions “Do you want to die tonight?” during the argument on their return journey from an Arsenal game.
Now cops have release shocking footage of the moment Virgo clutched the horseshoe before striking out at the back of Thomas’s head.
The thug can be seen clenching the weapon in his hand after pulling it out of his backpack, while continuing to argue with Thomas’s companions.
He is then seen being led away in handcuffs across the empty hall of Reading station, after using the horseshoe in a lethal attack.
Virgo admitted manslaughter and carrying an offensive weapon, but denied murder.
The jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for three hours and 49 minutes.
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The row began when Mr Parker’s brother Craig Parker, 27, told one of Virgo’s friends to turn the music down on the train at about 11pm last July 30.
The two groups shouted at each other, with Virgo saying: “Do you want to die tonight?”
The altercation was ended by off-duty police officers, before Virgo then followed the Parker brothers when the train arrived at Reading station.
The court heard that Virgo followed the group, removing the heavy metallic horseshoe from his rucksack, which he then used to hit Thomas Parker in the head.
Craig Parker told the court that he pursued Virgo through the station as he did not want to let him get away.
He said: “I was in a bear hug, grappling, just holding him, I did not want to let him go.”
Tom was a young man with his whole life ahead of him
DCI Paul Langley
Despite the efforts of emergency services, Thomas Parker was pronounced dead at 12.40am.
Thomas, described as “loving and funny” by Virgo, was killed by Virgo on his way back from a football match between Arsenal and Sevilla.
DCI Paul Langley said: “This was a senseless act of violence that stemmed from a minor argument relating to Virgo and his friends playing loud music on a train.
“Tom Parker was travelling home from an Arsenal FC fixture in London with his brother and friends.
“He was a young man with his whole life ahead of him.
“But that life was taken away by an extremely violent individual who fatally struck him following a disagreement at Reading station.”
The court was told that Mr Parker died as a result of a subarachnoid haemorrhage after he was hit, meaning fragile blood vessels near his brain had burst and he had gone into cardiac arrest.
Consultant forensic pathologist Robert Chapman, who performed the post-mortem examination, told the court: “One to 2% of cases I deal with have this sort of injury.”
Virgo will be sentenced tomorrow.