Why was assault charge against wealthy businessman dropped?

Martin Shipton

A solicitor who was assaulted by a wealthy businessman in full view of CCTV cameras has written to Gwent Police’s chief constable and the chief crown prosecutor in south Wales seeking an explanation as to why a criminal case was not pursued against his assailant.

CCTV footage filmed outside the legal practice in Newport that Robert Davies, 75, chairs, clearly shows him being grabbed by the throat by David Lewis, whose family owns the Ffos-y-Fran mine at Merthyr Tydfil and St Joseph’s private hospital in Newport.

The assault not only caused Mr Davies to bleed, but has left him with a permanent scar.

Mr Lewis is at the centre of a major row concerning the remediation of the Ffos-y-fran site at Merthyr Tydfil, which is likely to cost more than £100m. There are fears that he will not undertake the necessary restoration work and that the cost will fall on the public sector.

Mr Lewis had been due to appear in Newport Magistrates Court on July 14 to answer the ABH charge.

His court appearance was scheduled because he had not complied with the terms of a conditional caution the police said he was being issued with in relation to the assault.

However, days before Mr Lewis was due in court, his solicitor in the criminal case was sent a “notice of discontinuance” by the Crown Prosecution Service, stating that the charge was being dropped because there was not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.

‘Conditional caution’

In an email to Nation.Cymru, Mr Lewis’ London-based civil solicitors Carter-Ruck quoted from a letter to Mr Lewis from Gwent Police which stated: “The outcome of the case was that you would receive a conditional caution. You made arrangements to complete the relevant course as part of the condition. You did not complete this course and as such have now been referred to court for summons. You had not at any point signed the caution.”

The email to Nation.Cymru added: “On July 14 2025, our client’s matter came before Newport Magistrates Court. Our client was awarded his costs in relation to the discontinuance of charges.

“Our client has always denied ever being responsible for causing actual bodily harm to the alleged victim, Mr Robert Davies, or committing or threatening any act of violence.

“Further, we are instructed that Mr Davies made numerous other allegations against our client in respect of the same incident which were rejected by the police due to lack of evidence.”

‘Written confirmation’

In fact, an earlier email to Mr Davies from a Gwent police officer stated: “Following our discussion on the phone, please find this email as written confirmation of the investigation decision as requested. The investigation and evidence was reviewed by my supervisor and the following decision was made:

“Assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Mr Lewis will receive a conditional caution for this offence with the condition to attend a victim awareness course.

“Threats to kill. No further action will be taken as discussed due to insufficient evidence such as there are no witnesses to the threats and no audio on the CCTV which would make it a case of one word against another unfortunately.

“Witness intimidation. No further action will be taken on this offence as discussed due to insufficient evidence in order to proceed with this offence.”

Responding to the police officer, Mr Davies accepted the decisions in relation to the allegation of threats to kill, but disagreed with the decision not to proceed with the witness intimidation charge. In doing so, he alluded to comments made by a High Court judge when issuing a judgement in a civil action involving both Mr Lewis and Mr Davies, to the effect that Mr Lewis had sought to intimidate Mr Davies.

Mr Davies has now written to Gwent Chief Constable Mark Hobrough, asking for a meeting to discuss the case. In the letter he refers to the press coverage of it, adding: “There are aspects of the treatment that I have received that potentially go to the core integrity of your force.”

Mr Davies is awaiting a substantive response.

He also wrote to Adam Warner, the Chief Crown Prosecutor in Cardiff, stating: “How can you consider, suitably, that there is not enough evidence to justify a charge of ABH, without coming back first to me to check if the required evidence is not available? In the event, I believe that it was.”

Medical report

In fact, Mr Davies had a medical report as well as still photographs and the CCTV footage.

Mr Davies’ letter to Mr Warner continued: “I was informed by Gwent Police on February 25 2025 that ‘Mr Lewis will receive a conditional caution for [ABH] with a condition to attend a victim awareness course’.

“I accepted that in principle, but objected under the Victim’s Right to Review Procedures to the fact that no action was to be taken in relation to threats to kill [allegedly made by Mr Lewis as he was carrying out the assault] and witness intimidation [Mr Davies was a witness in a civil case involving the ownership of shares in St Joseph’s Hospital].

“The response was, in effect, that the conditional caution procedure precluded my rights to review. Thus, if I was bound by this, then clearly Lewis had agreed to the procedure, and that would constitute an admission.

“Why did you not take this into account?”

Mr Davies is also awaiting a substantive response to this letter.