Thug who bludgeoned train passenger, 24, to death with a horseshoe after asking ‘do you want to die tonight?’ is jailed

A THUG who bludgeoned a train passenger to death with a horseshoe in a row over loud music has been jailed.

Kirkpatrick Virgo struck 24-year-old Thomas Parker with the heavy metallic weapon, which he had kept in his rucksack.

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The 42-year-old had lay in wait to ambush Thomas after a row erupted on a train when his brother told one of Virgo’s pals to turn his music down.

He had asked the brothers “Do you want to die tonight?” as they made their way back from an Arsenal game.

Chilling footage showed the killer prowling Reading station in Berkshire with the horseshoe ready to pounce.

He was later captured being led away by officers in handcuffs following the horror on July 30.

Virgo has now been caged for life after he was convicted of murder.

Reading Crown Court heard the argument broke out when Thomas’ brother Craig asked one of Virgo’s friends to turn the music on a boombox down.

The altercation was ended by off-duty police officers but the killer followed the two brothers off the train.

He then removed the horseshoe from his bag and struck golf gamekeeper Thomas round the back of the head.

Craig, who was being sick at the time, said: “Once I vomited I felt Tom looking over me, making sure I was all right.

“Then it happened, so quickly, Tom was on the floor in front of me.”

He told jurors how he pursued Virgo through the station in a “bear hug” as he did not want to let the killer escape.

After he was detained, Craig then returned his brother as paramedics battled to save him.

He said: “I heard someone say ‘you best come down now’.”

Tragically, Thomas couldn’t be saved and was declared dead shortly after.

A post mortem gave a cause of death as a subarachnoid haemorrhage – meaning fragile blood vessels near his brain had burst and he had gone into cardiac arrest.

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.”

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