Leon Gladdis, a prolific offender who stole a taxi after threatening its driver with a knife, before travelling the wrong way along a road and crashing into a woman’s car, has been jailed for 20 months.
29-year-old Gladdis, formerly of Nelson Road in Newport, appeared at the Isle of Wight Crown Court today (Friday), where he was sentenced for a string of offences committed in Devon and on the Isle of Wight.
The court heard that the incident in Bideford, Devon, on 26th October 2025 began when Gladdis took a taxi journey from Westward Ho! to Geneva Court but failed to pay the fare. Gladdis told the taxi driver that he was going to get his card to pay, but when the driver went to find out what was happening, he was threatened with a knife.
Gladdis then stole the white Ford Mondeo taxi and drove the wrong way along a road, colliding with a Mitsubishi Colt and a third vehicle on the A386 between Bideford and Torrington. The innocent motorist was injured in the collision, which also caused damage to both vehicles.
Despite initially denying aggravated vehicle taking causing injury, Gladdis changed his plea to guilty at the Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court on 28th August.
Just months after the Devon incident, Gladdis was involved in further offending, this time back on the Isle of Wight.
On 14th July this year, he took a Nissan X-Trail belonging to his ex-girlfriend without her consent and drove it along Medina Avenue in Newport, despite being disqualified from driving and having no insurance.
Police had been alerted after a member of the public spotted a man behind the wheel of a vehicle with a beer in his hand. When the officers responding to the alert, PC Andy Ball, encountered Gladdis, the prolific offender simply said “see ya” before driving away up a pavement.
The vehicle was eventually abandoned on a footpath.
Gladdis subsequently admitted 5 offences arising from the Newport incident – taking a vehicle without consent, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance, failing to stop for police and careless driving. He entered guilty pleas to all 5 offences on 29th October.
The Crown Court heard that Gladdis had amassed 38 previous convictions for 77 offences, including 10 convictions for driving whilst disqualified. Of those 10 driving whilst disqualified convictions, 8 had been recorded within the past 6 years.
Defending Gladdis, Oscar Vincent, said that his client deserve credit for his guilty pleas. He added that his client had stopped using illicit substances around a year ago and that he was desperate to live a “normal life” and was “fed up of custody”.
As previously reported by Island Echo, Gladdis was jailed for 26 months in September 2023 after committing further driving offences and breaching a suspended prison sentence. His record was described in court at the time as ‘horrendous’, with a clear disregard for court orders.
Then, in November 2024, Gladdis was handed another prison sentence after crashing a Honda Civic into a parked Audi on Great Preston Road in Ryde before fleeing the scene. Both vehicles were written off, with a wheel ripped from the Civic and sent crashing through a garden fence.
For that incident, Gladdis admitted driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and failing to report an accident. He received a 12-week prison sentence and had his existing driving ban extended by a further 12 months.
For his latest offending, Gladdis was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment for the Devon offence, with a further 4 months for the Isle of Wight offences, bringing his total sentence to 20 months.
He was also banned from driving for 4 years and 7 months and must pass an extended driving test before he can legally get behind the wheel again.
