Final frame for snooker’s Willie Thorne at just 66
Hospital death of troubled star who became a gambling addict
He was one of sport’s big characters, as popular with his rivals at the snooker table as with his fans.
And yesterday tributes poured in for former champion and BBC commentator Willie Thorne after his death aged 66.
The star died in a Spanish hospital yesterday morning of septic shock following respiratory failure. His later life had been blighted by an addiction to gambling.
His close friend Gary Lineker described him as ‘one of life’s great characters’ but said he had ‘potted his final black much too soon’.
Snooker legend Ronnie O’SullivanSullivan added: ‘What a beautiful man, big heart,, great company. RIP WT.’
Thorne, instantly recognisablee with his bald head and neatt moustache, reached two World Championship quarter-finals and won the Mercantile Creditt Classic in 1982.
A mainstay at the top of the game during snooker’s boom years of the late 1980s andd early 90s, he was also part of thee Matchroom Mob that featuredd in the surprise 1986 chartt hit Snooker Loopy with Chass and Dave.
After retiring from the game inn 2002, he went on to become a BBC commentator and alsoo appeared on the 2007 series off Strictly Come Dancing.
However, he began gamblingg heavily and the addictionn became worse when his motherr Nancy died aged 87 in 2013.
In June the following year hee tried to end his life over £1million gambling debts.
Fleeing to a hotel room with a knife, Thorne wrote letters to his family but was saved when his wife, former Miss Great Britain, Jill Saxby, tracked him down.
In 2016 he declared himself bankrupt. He and Miss Saxby separated after 24 years and last year he moved to Spain. At one stage Thorne,Thorne who leaves three children and two stepchildren, borrowed more than £1million to feed his gambling.
He once revealed how lenders threatened to chop off his wife’s fingers and take her jewellery. The couple had lived in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, but the house was repossessed. Thorne told in March how he was suffering from leukaemia. He was first admitted to hospital in Spain on May 2 and had three blood transfusions, treatment for a virus, MRI scans and check on his heart.
He was then admitted to Torrevieja Hospital on the Costa Blanca with dangerously low blood pressure on Sunday.
After being put in an induced
coma, he died shortly before 2am yesterday with members of his family at his bedside.
His friend and carer Julie O’Neill said: ‘He passed away very peacefully and without pain listening to his children saying they love him.’
Snooker star Stephen Hendry added: ‘Very sad news – Willie was one of my favourite people in snooker.’ Former rival and co-commentator Dennis Taylor also paid his respects, saying: ‘Devastating news about Willie Thorne. We laughed our way around the world for 45 years.’
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn said: ‘He was a larger than life personality and he was a major part of the rebirth of snooker in the 1980s.’