He has been recalled to prison
Police have launched a manhunt for a former Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers player once dubbed ‘Wales’ most promising footballer’.
Leon Jeanne, 44, has been recalled to prison by South Wales Police but has not yet been found.
Police have not stated why he must return to prison but tweeted his picture and name with the message: “Recalled to Prison. Give reference 2500002271.”
Jeanne started his playing career at Arsenal at the age of 10 and was tipped to go to the very top of the game like contemporaries such as Craig Bellamy.
Jay Bothroyd who was a teammate of Jeanne’s at Arsenal 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.”
Jeanne failed to stay on that upwards trajectory in the sport and was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to 30 months in jail for his involvement in a plot to supply cocaine.
Two years later he found himself back in court having become embroiled in a bust-up involving a hammer and a brick after one of his sons chased another man in a car.
Another two years went by before he was convicted of dangerous driving after being chased by police at 100mph, claiming he was trying to get away from someone else who he was in a ‘feud with’.
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On that occasion he was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 18 months and ordered to comply with a 12-week curfew. He was also disqualified from driving for two years.
Following his release he was recalled for breaching a curfew.
He was last seen in public two years ago as he was allowed out on day release from prison to attend the funeral of his son Rafel who died in a car crash in Cardiff, close to where Jeanne had been caught speeding four years earlier.
Rafel died in March 2023 with Darcy Ross and Eve Smith, both 21, while bank worker Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, survived.
Jeanne made eight appearances for Wales at under-21s level, as well as playing for QPR between 1997 and 2001 before making the move to Cardiff City for the 01/02 season.