Drug dealer goes on the run from jail

Feb 28 2008 by David James, South Wales Echo

A DRUG dealer whose gang ruled a South Wales estate is on the run from prison.

Matthew Seal, 32, is one of three prisoners who have absconded from the minimum security Leyhill Prison in South Gloucestershire.

The cocaine and heroin dealer was serving nine years for selling Class A drugs.

Seal was jailed in 2004 as one of 13 men and three women locked up for a total of 88 and a half years in connection with the sale of drugs on the Gurnos Estate in Merthyr Tydfil.

The bust was a triumph for South Wales Police on an estate where drugs were sold openly on street corners and shopkeepers and residents were too scared to speak out.

It was made possible by two undercover officers who spent five months infiltrating a drugs ring run from the Seal family’s council house on the estate’s Bramble Close.

At the sentencing hearing, Merthyr Crown Court heard that young families were too scared to walk to shops near local schools because of the drug dealing on the streets. After the arrests, crime fell by 16 per cent on the estate.

Seal is one of three prisoners who were reported missing from Leyhill Prison.

Armed robber Anthony Duggan, 61, serving life, was reported missing on Sunday while Seal and Martin McDonagh, 33, who was serving three years for burglary, were reported missing on Monday.

Seal is believed to be the only one with links to the South Wales area.

He was described as white, 5ft 9ins tall and of medium build. He has short, dark-brown hair and is clean shaven. He speaks with a Welsh accent.

Leyhill is a former wartime hospital that houses 512 prisoners. It is the lowest category D minimum security facility.

On its website it claims to have a special function in preparing life sentence prisoners for release, “providing an environment in which prisoners can assume more responsibility before returning to the outside community”.

Anyone who believes they have seen any of the men is urged to contact Staple Hill CID on 0845 4567000.

david.james@mediawales.co.uk