Violent killer attacked would-be MP and snatched £1,200 iPhone
A DERBYSHIRE MP was attacked and threatened with murder while on a train to Manchester.
Robert Largan, MP for High Peak, became involved in an altercation with another man who had snatched his £1,200 iPhone 10. The man turned out to be Leslie Thorley, 42, who had been let out of prison on licence for manslaughter from 2013.
A court heard Thorley threatened to murder Mr Largan and threw a brick at him.
Mr Largan was about to stand in election for the High Peak, and won it for the Conservatives two months later.
He had been waiting for a train from Glossop to Manchester Piccadilly on September 4, 2019, when he noticed Thorley staring at him on the platform.
Both men boarded at around 10pm when, despite the carriage being mostly empty, Thorley made the effort to sit directly next to Mr Largan.
The court was told the prospective MP thought it strange that Thorley, who smelled of alcohol and who was drinking from beer can, sat beside him and asked him “who are you, what do you do?”
Prosecutor, Zaiban Alam said: “The defendant attempted to engage in conversation with the complainant and then took his phone from his hand and put it in his pocket.
“Mr Largan tried to get his phone back and there was a tussle. The defendant refused to give it back.
“The defendant told him (Mr Largan) to give him back a can of beer or he would smash his face in.”
The politician was told by Thorley that if he wanted his phone back, he’d have to hand over all his money.
Thorley then punched Mr Largan in the face, the court heard. “He picked up a brick and threw it at the complainant who was able to duck,” Ms Alam said.
“The defendant said if he didn’t stop following him that he would murder him. The complainant stopped pursuing Mr Thorley after this comment.”
Reading a victim impact statement, Ms Alam said: “The iPhone was worth £1,200 and Mr Largan said this amounted to a significant financial loss for him.
“The incident upset him a great deal and he is now more aware of his surroundings then before. This also caused a lot of difficulty as he could not be contacted by his employer.”
Thorley, who has a number of previous convictions for violence, has since been recalled to prison where he will serve the remainder of his licence period – until 2024.
At Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Thorley was jailed for 44 months to run concurrent to that jail term after admitting offences of theft and battery.
Thorley was also sentenced for an offence of GBH following a separate attack on a man a few weeks before on August 9, 2019. The court heard that Thorley and a co-defendant attacked a couple outside their home in Glossop following a row over a bag of cannabis. Thorley’s victim was left with a broken jaw, nerve damage and had to stay in hospital for five days following the attack.
Sentencing, Judge Paul Lawton said: “You were on licence for manslaughter at the time of these offences.
“For anyone who had killed another man in the street, one would think you would avoid violence in the future, but you have not. The only reason I am not passing an extended sentence is because you have been recalled on licence until 2024.
“The law does not allow me to pass a consecutive time of imprisonment for these offences.”
Thorley was sentenced to 44 months imprisonment to run concurrently with his extended licence period. This means the jail term for the two recent offences will not make any difference to Thorley’s current release date in 2024.
Two months after the incident, Mr Largan beat Labour’s Ruth George to win the High Peak constituency for the Tories, overturning a slim, 2,322vote majority.