Mum's plea to catch the thugs behind fatal 2002 city attack

MORE than two decades after Leon Adams was brutally attacked in Cardiff in a crime which went on to end his life years later, a new appeal has been launched to find whoever was responsible.

- HOLLY MORGAN Reporter

Leon James Adams was 24 when he walked away from The Cottage pub on St Mary Street in Cardiff late on the evening of February 13, 2002.

He had just finished a shift and was carrying more around £138 in cash when he left the pub. At 5.16am the following morning - February 14, 2002 - police were called to Grangetown railway station after receiving a report of a man lying on the ground covered in blood. The injured man was Mr Adams, who was found unconscious with bruising and swelling to his face.

The cash he had in his possession on leaving the pub was never found, and police believed the motive behind the barbaric attack was robbery.

Mr Adams was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, having sustained “severe head injuries”.

He had abrasions to his face and a CT scan showed brain swelling and a bleed on the left side of his brain.

He also developed pneumonia and was in a coma for two years before regaining consciousness.

However, when he woke he was quadriplegic and struggled to communicate. He lived in Yr Ysgol care home in Ystradgynlais and, following a deterioration in his health, died aged 47 on Boxing Day 2024 - almost 23 years after he was attacked.