Police have this week launched a manhunt as they appeal for Leon Jeanne, an former EFL footballer, 44, to return to prison.
His criminal history includes being jailed in 2015 for 30 months for his role in a plot to supply cocaine, and more recently, he was convicted of dangerous driving in 2019 after a high-speed chase by police at 100mph.
This conviction was chillingly close to where his son Rafel later died in a car crash in March 2023.
Jeanne was allowed out on day release to attend his son’s funeral but was subsequently sent back to prison for breaching a curfew.
The police have issued an appeal for information to help locate him, referencing the case with the number 2500002271.
South Wales Police issued a brief appeal on its Facebook page saying he is wanted back in prison.
South Wales Police Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan posted via their Facebook page:
#WANTED | Leon Jeanne
Age: 44
From Cardiff
Recalled to Prison
Give reference 2500002271
Live Chat https://www.south-wales.police.uk/
Contact us via https://bit.ly/SWPProvideInfo
101
Always call 999 in an emergency.
Or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111
In May 2015 Jeanne was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiring to supply cocaine, heroin and cannabis.
He was part of a drug gang operating in Gloucester and surrounding cities and areas selling crack cocaine and heroin. He was responsible for the Cardiff side of the gangs business operation. Judge Ford told him: “You are a great disappointment to many people. You wasted your talent and turned from an honest, athletic man to a common criminal. You’ve been ruined by drugs. References show you have the capacity for reform.”
In June 2017, Jeanne and his 19-year-old son Tremaine were convicted after the latter had an armed fight with another man in Llanrumney the previous November. Jeanne admitted threats and received 180 hours of unpaid work, while his son received eight months in detention for affray and possession of an offensive weapon, concurrent with his three-year sentence for possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply. The third man received six months in prison for affray.
In July 2019, Jeanne was convicted of dangerous driving after damaging another car while fleeing from the police at 100 miles per hour. He was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, and 12 weeks of curfew. In September, a warrant was issued for his arrest due to breaches of curfew.
Jeanne recently appeared on The Central Club podcast speaking from HMP Parc where he said he didn’t turn up for QPR training for two years missed out on playing for the Wales national side.
In a clip from the chat, Jeanne says: ‘He [the manager] rung me on time he said “where are you?” I said “Australia” – [but] I was in Cardiff.
‘It was the time I didn’t turn up for Wales, for the first team squad for Wales. I didn’t turn up because I was partying and that.
‘I didn’t go to QPR for about two years and they were still paying me and all that and I was out in Cardiff partying for 18 months to two years.’
Peter Crouch once named Jeanne among the players who didn’t make it to the level he expected.
He told the Daily Mail in 2020 that Jeanne “looked like he could go far but it never happened”.
Former teammate Jay Bothroyd said last year: ‘He was at Arsenal with me and was the most talented player I’d ever seen at that age. He was unbelievable. But he went off the rails’.
https://youtu.be/3csiX4gFIIY?si=7e3zTW4deQWuy4Hn&t=1758
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