Scott Lisney

Scott Lisney was a 56 year old man from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, known in his community as a kind, generous presence who spent decades working at a local fish and chip shop and helping neighbours with odd jobs. He died in July 2025 after being assaulted near his home, a death that led to a manslaughter prosecution and has kept his name in the news through 2026 as the case has moved through the courts.

Scott Lisney was not a public figure in the conventional sense of fame or office. He was, by his family's account, a much loved son, brother, father and uncle who lived his whole adult life around Bury St Edmunds. He worked for 34 years at the Peyton Plaice fish and chip shop in the town and was known locally for doing odd jobs for people on the Howard Estate. His sister Samantha Lisney Keen described him as having a 'heart of gold', and the family's tribute called him a kind hearted man who would do anything for anybody and a much loved character in the community, noted for being a smart and snappy dresser who was fond of his suits.

Scott Lisney mattered to the people who knew him because he represented the kind of ordinary, rooted local life that rarely makes headlines, until it is taken away suddenly and violently. His death turned him, against his family's wishes, into the centre of a criminal case that has drawn wider attention to the question of fatal single punch assaults.

Scott Lisney died on 29 July 2025 at West Suffolk Hospital, three days after he was assaulted outside shops at the St Olaves precinct on the Howard Estate in Bury St Edmunds on the evening of Saturday 26 July 2025. Witnesses told police that he was punched in the head, fell backwards and struck his head on the concrete. He was briefly unconscious, came round, and was taken to hospital, where he began to show signs of confusion before his condition was found to be life threatening. Suffolk Police treated the case as a homicide investigation, and a 54 year old local man, Andrew Allen, was subsequently charged with manslaughter.

Scott Lisney's death prompted an outpouring of tributes from family and the local community, and his organs were donated, going on to help five other people, an act for which his parents later received a national award. His funeral was held on 18 September 2025 at West Suffolk Crematorium in Risby. More than a year on, the manslaughter trial of Andrew Allen has now opened, with prosecutors describing the fatal blow as a single punch, bringing Scott Lisney's name back into the news as his family and community wait to see the case concluded.