Police appeal to find killer ex-soldier who forced his…

Police appeal to find killer ex-soldier who forced his way into woman's home as he's recalled to prison

Gwent Police are appealing for help to find a man who has breached the conditions of his prison release last year. Leon Wells, 40, from Abertysswg in Caerphilly, has breached his licence conditions following his release from prison on January 28, 2022 and has now been recalled to prison.

Wells had received a sentence of 28 months in prison for breaching his serious crime prevention order at Cardiff Crown Court in November 2020. The ex-soldier, who was jailed over a decade ago for killing a dad-of-three in an unprovoked attack, later became involved in organised crime and was jailed again for breaching an order at the end of 2020.

Leon Wells, who served in the Balkans and Sierra Leone, was sent to prison for three years in 2009 for manslaughter after punching former miner Alan Brown outside a pub in Tredegar in an unprovoked attack. Mr Brown never regained consciousness, despite efforts to save him. Since that conviction, Wells has been in and out of the courts and was made subject to a serious crime prevention order (SCPO) in 2018.

In November 2020, the defendant was back at Cardiff Crown Court after being found in possession of a phone and social media account, which had not been declared to the authorities. Police visited Wells' home in Abertysswg at 4am on October 6, 2020, in relation to an unrelated investigation. He was asked if he was in possession of a mobile phone but he said he had "left it in work".

Officers discovered an iPhone underneath bed clothes and after searching the defendant's Mercedes they found an IMO "burner" phone underneath the driver's seat. While Wells had notified the police about the iPhone the authorities had no knowledge of the IMO phone.

It was examined and had a call history between July and October 2020 with a number of "cryptic" messages from numbers belonging to what police identified as people involved in organised crime. Wells was also found to be using a Facebook account in his own name which had not been disclosed to the authorities and constituted another breach of the order.

In April of that year, he was sentenced for four offences, including assault and criminal damage. He forced his way into a woman’s home and assaulted her in February 2020.

Gwent Police are now appealing for information to find Wells. In a statement released on Monday, a spokesperson for the police force said: "Wells, 40, breached his licence conditions following his release from prison on Friday 28 January 2022 and has been recalled to prison.

"He had received a sentence of 28 months in prison for breaching his serious crime prevention order at Cardiff Crown Court on 30 November 2020. He has known links to the Tredegar area."

Gwent Police have asked if anyone that has information about his whereabouts to call 101 or send them a direct message on Facebook or Twitter quoting log reference 2200219968. Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with details.