Gwent Police have launched a murder investigation after Anthony Jones died following violent disorder in Pontnewynydd, near Pontypool. Jones, 56, was from Brecon and suffered life-threatening injuries on Thursday. Police are now asking for dashcam and CCTV footage from the area.
Seven men aged 31, 39, 40, 45, 59, 61 and 73 were arrested in connection with the disorder and remained in police custody. The shift from disorder to murder investigation came after Jones died on Saturday, turning the case into a wider inquiry into what happened before and after the incident.
Anne-Marie Salwey and Hospital Road
Det Ch Supt Anne-Marie Salwey said officers were trying to establish the movements of those involved both before and after the disorder. She said: "We're trying to establish the movements of those involved both before and after the disorder and are asking motorists who were driving along Hospital Road, Mill Road and the surrounding areas between 6pm and 9pm on Thursday to check their dashcam footage."
The request narrows the search to Hospital Road, Mill Road and nearby streets during a three-hour window on Thursday. That gives police two strands to work on at once: the sequence of events around the disorder itself and the movement of vehicles and people in the area before and after it.
CCTV and footage in Pontnewynydd
Police also appealed for anyone with information, CCTV or dashcam footage from the area between 19:00 and 19:30 BST to contact them. The overlap between the narrower 19:00 to 19:30 BST request and the broader dashcam appeal suggests investigators are trying to pin down the same stretch of time from different angles.
Jones's family are being supported by specialist officers. For anyone who drove through Pontnewynydd that evening, the practical next step is straightforward: check footage from Thursday and pass on anything that shows who was there, which vehicles moved, or how the disorder developed. The unanswered point is still the same one police are working through: what caused the violent disorder in Pontnewynydd?
