Former South Wales Police staff member due in court on ABH and strangulation charges

A former South Wales Police employee is set to make their first appearance at Cardiff Crown Court on 13 March to face charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation.

Wayne Thomas, aged 52, who had previously worked as a Custody Detention Officer for the force, was charged following an Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation, into a complaint about the force used on a man who was being booked in to custody at Swansea Police station in October 2023.

We sent a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) upon completion of our investigation in April 2025 and in November 2025 the CPS authorised the charges.

At an earlier court hearing at Newport Magistrates’ Court Mr Thomas pleaded not guilty to both allegations.