There was no victory for Chris Pennell to celebrate his 250th appearance as Warriors were heavily punished for poor discipline at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Three second half tries from Richard Palframan, Oli Morris and Perry Humphreys rewarded Warriors for battling to the end but a lack of continuity and momentum earlier in the match proved costly.
To make matters worse, Warriors lost Scotland international fly-half Duncan Weir with a nasty-looking shoulder injury in the first half and they ended the match with 14 men after Sam Lewis suffered a similar injury in the dying minutes.
It was a disappointing afternoon all round, particularly after such a spirited performance against Exeter seven days earlier, as Leicester were able to prey on mistakes and pick off the points.
Four of Leicester’s five tries came from driving mauls which were the consequence of Warriors conceding penalties and allowing them to kick to the corners.
For Pennell the match would have been something of an anti-climax after he was given a guard of honour by his team-mates before kick-off.
He was soon in the thick of the action, calmly collecting a hoisted kick and calling a mark to repel an early Leicester raid.
But Leicester came again and went ahead after ten minutes when fly-half Zack Henry slotted a penalty which was swiftly cancelled about a long range effort from Weir who struck from halfway midway through the first half.
Leicester were ahead again within five minutes with hooker Julian Montoya crashing over after a series of driving mauls from lineouts and Henry added the extras.
Warriors then lost Weir on the half-hour which meant an early appearance for Jamie Shillcock in a re-jigged back division.
Leicester thought they had scored again when Scotland centre Matt Scott cut through and slipped a pass to full-back Freddie Steward but referee Andrew Jackson ruled that the final pass was forward.
But Warriors were penalised for taking down the resulting scrum which gave Henry the opportunity to add three easy points just before the break.
Montaya went over for his second try, again from a lineout drive, eight minutes into the second half and Leicester took a firm grip on the contest when number eight Jasper Wiese burrowed over from close range after Warriors went down to 14 men with sin-binning of Graham Kitchener.
Palframan’s try midway through the second half lifted Warriors’ spirits and briefly suggested a fightback.
But replacement hooker Tom Youngs slammed the door shut when he was driven over for the bonus point try eight minutes later.
Oli Morris responded with a long range interception try, his second in as many matches but penalties continued to be conceded at the other end and Wiese capitalised with his second try to which fly-half Zack Henry added his fifth conversion to finish with a personal haul of 16 points.
There was time for Humphreys to cross on the overlap against his former club and for Shillcock to land his third conversion but not enough for Warriors to grab the bonus point try.
Warriors | 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Oli Morris, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Nick David, 10 Duncan Weir (Shillcock 29), 9 Gareth Simpson (Heaney 70), 1 Marc Thomas (Waller 45), 2 Niall Annett (Cutting 45), 3 Nick Schonert (Palframan 55), 4 Anton Bresler (Clegg 49), 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Marco Mama (Hill 49), 7 Matt Kvesic (C) (Lewis 63), 8 Cornell du Preez.
Replacements | 16 Beck Cutting, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Justin Clegg, 20 Sam Lewis, 21 Ted Hill, 22 Michael Heaney, 23 Jamie Shillcock.
Timeline
10m | Henry pen 3-0
18m | Weir pen 3-3
23m | Montoya try 8-3
24m | Henry con 10-3
36m | Henry pen 13-3
48m | Montoya try 18-3
49m | Henry con 20-3
54m | Wiese try 25-3
55m | Henry con 27-3
57m | Palframan try 27-8
58m | Shillcock con 27-10
65m | Youngs try 32-10
66m | Henry con 34-10
69m | Morris try 34-15
70m | Shillcock con 34-17
73m | Wiese try 39-17
74m | Henry con 41-17
77m | Humphreys try 41-22
78m | Shillcock con 41-24