Police hunt ex-Cardiff and QPR star Leonne Jeanne after prison recall

31 January 2025 , 09:14

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Police hunt ex-Cardiff and QPR star Leonne Jeanne after prison recall

Former football star Leonne Jeanne, who played for Cardiff and QPR, has been ’recalled to prison’ by South Wales Police, who are appealing for information on the 44-year-old

Police are on the hunt for a former Cardiff and QPR star once considered Wales’ most promising footballer.

Leonne Jeanne, 44, has been "recalled to prison" by South Wales Police, who are urging the public to come forward with any information on him. He was convicted of dangerous driving in 2019 after being chased by police at 100mph on the same road where his son was found dead - and later sent to prison for breaching a curfew.

In 2023, he was allowed out on day release from prison to attend the funeral of his son, who was among three people to die in a horror crash in Cardiff. Rafel Jeanne died in the car crash in March 2023 along with Darcy Ross and Eve Smith, both 21, while bank worker Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, survived.

The new police appeal said: "Leonne Jeanne. Age: 44. From Cardiff. Recalled to Prison. Give reference 2500002271."

In 2015, Jeanne was jailed for 30 months for his involvement in a drug gang which supplied cocaine, heroin and cannabis in Gloucester and surrounding cities.

During the trial, a judge 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."

The football star part of a drug gang operating in Gloucester and surrounding cities at the time, and was responsible for the Cardiff side of the gangs business operation.

In the 2019 offence, he damaged a car and swerved off a dual carriageway whilst fleeing from police at 100mph. The then 38-year-old tried to force his way between two lines of traffic at a red light before jumping out of his car. His driving was described as “aggressive” by the officer on scene, who could not make out his number plate due to the high speeds at which he was travelling.

In her sentencing remarks Judge Eleri Rees described his driving as “appalling” and said: “This is a very serious matter. There were certainly a number of points where someone could quite easily have been seriously injured, if not killed, by your driving.”

Grace Cooper