Mother, 78, tells vigilante, 23, who murdered her child killer son: ‘You are no better’ as he is jailed for life

• Ieuan Harley, 23, stabbed David Gaut, 54, to death in New Tredegar, South Wales
• Harley discovered Mr Gaunt had been jailed for killing 15-month-old boy in 1985
• Harley wanted to ‘punish’ him and ‘chop him up and put him down the plughole’
• Mr Gaut was branded a ‘nonce’ before his fingernails were removed in the attack

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A vigilante was today sentenced to at least 24 years in jail for the ‘horrific and brutal’ murder of a child killer just freed from prison.

Ieuan Harley, 23, stabbed David Gaut, 54, to death in New Tredegar, South Wales, after discovering he had been jailed for killing a 15-month-old boy in 1985.

Harley wasn’t even born when Mr Gaut murdered his girlfriend’s baby, but wanted to ‘punish’ him and ‘chop him up and put him down the plughole’. 

He was sentenced at Newport Crown Court today as Mr Gaut’s mother Phyllis Gaut, 77, said: ‘To some David was a monster but he was my son and I loved him.’ She added: ‘This man was no better than David, he too was a killer.’

Ieuan Harley (left), 23, murdered David Gaut (right, pictured at Caerphilly train station in South Wales last August, hours before he was killed) after discovering he had killed a toddler in 1985

Harley showed no emotion as he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 24 years. He was also sentenced to four years for perverting the course of justice. which will run concurrently.

Dressed in a pale blue T-shirt and jeans, he pumped his chest and waved to his family in the public gallery as he was led to the cells. 

Judge Mr Justice Clive Lewis told Harley: ‘I am sure that you Ieuan Harley killed David Gaut because you found out that he had killed a child and you decided he should be made to suffer.

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‘Quite simply what you did was murder. You carried out a brutal and savage killing of another person.’

He told Harley the killing showed ‘cruel and near-sadistic behaviour’.

A murder trial at Newport Crown Court heard Mr Gaut was led to a flat to watch a DVD just six weeks after being released from 32 years behind bars.

Bloodied towels and sheets were found inside a black Sports Direct bag recovered from a riverbank in New Tredegar following Mr Gaut’s death

David Osbourne (left), 51, and Darren Evesham (right), 47, were cleared of murder but convicted of perverting the course justice for cleaning up blood and moving the body

Harley had only known about Mr Gaut’s crime for 20 minutes when he stabbed him 150 times while alive and a further 26 times when he was dead.

Victim statement from David Gaut’s mother Phyllis Gaut, 77

‘My son David was brutally murdered by a vigilante. To some David was a monster but he was my son and I loved him.

‘He died fighting for his life after being lured to his death by people he believed were his friends, people he trusted. This man was no better than David, he too was a killer.

‘David paid the price for what he did, spending 30 years in prison for what he did to Marky. David was not a threat to anyone, he was questioning where he fitted in society after spending so long in prison. He struggled with technology, the world had moved on while he was in jail.’ 

‘We have tried to come to terms with what David did. I feel that David has been convicted all over again. His murder has left a huge void in my life. I spoke to David every day and I miss him.’ 

Mr Gaut was branded a ‘nonce’ before his fingernails were removed in the attack.

The court heard Harley was previously jailed for attacking a man in a mobility wheelchair after wrongly accusing him of being a paedophile.

Harley and friends David Osbourne, 51, Darren Evesham, 47, were all accused of murdering Mr Gaut  last August.

A jury cleared Osbourne and Evesham of murder but both perverted the course of justice by helping Harley dispose of the body.

Osborne was jailed for two years and four months. Evesham was jailed for three years and six months. All three men are from New Tredegar. 

Today, Ms Gaut, 77, told the court in a victim impact statement: ‘My son David was brutally murdered by a vigilante.

‘To some David was a monster but he was my son and I loved him. He died fighting for his life after being lured to his death by people he believed were his friends, people he trusted. This man was no better than David, he too was a killer.’

Mr Gaut, known as ‘Dai’, was jailed for life in 1985 for the murder of his girlfriend’s son Chi Ming Shek, known as Marky. 

Investigators believe that a Peugeot 206 was set on fire to dispose of incriminating evidence

Mrs Gaut said: ‘David paid the price for what he did, spending 30 years in prison for what he did to Marky. David was not a threat to anyone.

David Gaut was jailed for 32 years for killing toddler Chi Ming Shek (pictured) in 1985

‘He was questioning where he fitted in society after spending so long in prison. He struggled with technology, the world had moved on while he was in jail.’

Mrs Gaut said her son’s murder had brought back the ‘horror’ of the events of 1985.

She said: ‘We have tried to come to terms with what David did. I feel that David has been convicted all over again.’

‘His murder has left a huge void in my life. I spoke to David every day and I miss him.’

Mrs Gaut said she hoped her son’s death would bring peace to Marky’s family, adding that she could not afford to pay for her son’s funeral and didn’t know where his ashes were scattered.

The murder trial heard the gory details of Mr Gaut’s ‘cruel and near sadistic’ murder at the flat next door to where he lived.

Prosecutor Ben Douglas-Jones said: ‘Mr Gaut suffered 150 stab wounds before he died and another 26 stab wounds after death.

‘His fingernails were cut off – at least two weapons were used, a knife and a screwdriver.’

A court sketch from January 17 (left to right) of David Osborne, a male dock officer, Ieuan Harley, a female dock officer and Darran Evesham during their trial at Newport Crown Court

The court heard the three men dragged Mr Gaut’s body back to his flat before trying to cover their tracks.

How Harley was jailed for attacking a disabled man he wrongly thought was ‘a nonce’

Newport Crown Court heard Ieuan Harley was previously jailed for 32 months for attacking a disabled man he wrongly believed was ‘a nonce’.

Harley was 19 when he attacked the man sitting on his mobility scooter in Cardiff city centre.

Prosecutor Ben Douglas-Jones said: ‘He put his victim in a stranglehold and gouged his eyes. He needed hospital treatment for an adhesion to his cornea and an injury to his eyelid.’

Harley had other previous convictions for battery, affray and assaulting a police officer.

The court heard Harley had suffered ‘serious childhood traumatic experiences’ when he was six-year-old.

A psychiatrist said he had ‘some features’ of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of what happened to him as a child.

The defendants later went to the pub with friend Michael Lewis who tipped off police about the murder.

Mr Douglas-Jones said: ‘Later that night in Osbourne’s flat Mr Lewis was in a chair with a blanket over him, it appeared to all those present he was asleep.

‘It caused the three others to relax, they thought they were in private but Mr Lewis could hear and did hear what they were saying.

‘He heard them say that Harley had killed Dai because he had murdered a child. He heard Harley say he had stabbed Mr Gaut in the neck.

‘They said they had carried him back into his flat but they would have to do something because he was starting to smell.’

The court heard Mr Lewis ‘summoned up the courage’ to dial 999 the next day to report the murder to police.

Pc Nicky Holland was first to enter Mr Gaut’s flat. Mr Douglas-Jones said: ‘Even at first sight there were evidently many stab wounds to the body of Mr Gaut.

‘The officer saw blood smeared on the floor where the body had been dragged from Flat Three, nextdoor.

‘Forensic analysis found blood splattered on the walls of Flat Three and Mr Gaut’s DNA was found on the hilt of a knife on the kitchen draining board.’

Mr Gaut was stabbed 150 times with a knife while he was still alive and another 26 times with a screwdriver (pictured in images shown to the jury) after his death

Harley had used drugs since the age of 11 and neighbours told how he was on Spice at the time of the Gaut murder.

Judge condemns ‘brutal and savage’ murder

Judge Clive Lewis told Harley: ‘In 1986 David Gaut was convicted of the murder of a child – he served approximately 32 years in prison.

‘He was released and went to live in New Tredegar where David Osborne was his next door neighbour. Mr Gaut told people that he had been in prison because he had killed a soldier.

‘He did not tell them he was convicted of killing a child. You found out what he had done and decided he should be made to suffer even though you did not know the child or his family.

‘You carried out a brutal and savage murder, then you tried to hide the body. It was cruel and near sadistic behaviour, intended to cause real suffering.

‘You stabbed Mr Gaut in the eyes, the face and his throat, cutting his voice box. You wanted to make his suffer and that’s what you did before finally killing him.

‘Mr Osborne was in the kitchen and could hear him shouting and screaming for help. Then you mutilated the dead body of the victim. You stabbed him a further 26 times an cut off the fingernails of the dead man.

‘You discovered in August that Mr Gaut had killed a child and from that time onwards you were extremely angry and intended to cause him serious violence.’

He racked up more than 70 criminal convictions while still a teenager for a string of offences including violence and drugs.

In March 2018 he was stabbed twice on a train with a hunting knife but when he was taken to hospital he attacked a woman nurse who was treating him.

He was jailed for battery for the hospital attack and refused to help the prosecution of his attacker.

The murder trial heard he was living homeless in his car at the time of the killing – which he then set fire to after the crime in a bid to destroy evidence. 

After the sentencing, Detective Superintendent Judith Roberts, Gwent Police’s Senior Investigating Officer in this case, said: ‘The shocking level of violence inflicted upon David Gaut – both before and after he died – is reflected in the prison sentence handed down to Ieuan Harley today.

‘David’s past conviction and prison sentence attracted significant media and public interest; however, this did not distract us from the focus of our investigation, which was to identify who was responsible for his death and bring them to justice.

‘Although this was an isolated crime, it is understandable such an act of violence can cause fear and concern in any local community. 

‘I would like to thank the residents of New Tredegar for their co-operation, support and understanding during this investigation and reassure them that the local neighbourhood policing team are working closely with other agencies to keep them safe.

‘Finally, I would like to pay my respects to David’s family, who in the past eight months have had to come to terms with his death and re-live events of the past, in which they played no part. I hope they will now be given privacy and the opportunity to move forward with their lives.’

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