A FORMER soldier was jailed for three years yesterday for the manslaughter of a man outside a Tredegar pub.

Victim Alan Brown, originally from Markham, was fatally injured in an assault outside the Tredegar Arms public house on, Morgan Street at around 10.45pm on May 4, 2008.

The 45-year-old was taken to the Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, but died of serious head injuries the next day.

Leon Wells, 26, of Rhyd Terrace, Georgetown, was sentenced yesterday at Cardiff Crown Court after pleading guilty to manslaughter on October 24 last year.

Prosecutor Roger Thomas QC described Mr Brown as a person of previously good character who was “quiet and shy - not the kind of person to get involved in a fight.”

He told the court that prior to the incident, Mills, who had previously served as a Lance Corporal in Macedonia and Sierra Leone for the Royal Engineers, had been involved in an argument with another customer in the pub, whom he head butted.

After being escorted out of the pub he was then seen to be taunting people inside and “looking for trouble”, the court heard.

At that moment Mr Brown, who had been drinking with two friends, decided to leave the pub for a cigarette.

“It seems this innocent decision to leave the public house was to have far reaching and fatal consequences,” Mr Thomas said.

Shortly after leaving the pub Mr Brown was punched by Mills twice in the face.

Defending John Charles Rees QC said Mills was “up for a fight, I’m not going to say otherwise”, but added his client “did not mean to cause any serious injury.”

In his sentencing, The Recorder of Cardiff, Nicholas Cooke QC, said: “It’s accepted you did not intend to cause any serious injury let alone death.

“No sentence I can pass can do anything to reduce the feeling of loss and anger which I’m sure are felt by those whom you have taken a loving family member and friend.

“Nothing I can do can ease the pain you caused.”