AMATEUR boxer Jake Vallely has been jailed for a minimum of 16 years for the murder of soldier Matthew Boyd in Brecon.

Vallely, who just an hour before he’d killed the soldier had bragged he was "the hardest man in Brecon", was brought back before Cardiff Crown Court today after a jury that sat through two weeks of evidence convicted him of murder.

The 24-year-old of Pen y Bryn, Brecon, -described in court as a doting father - had admitted punching Matthew Boyd but claimed he’d acted in self defence.

However judge Justice Clive Lewis told Vallely he was sure he had been the aggressor that night, not Pte Boyd. Justice Lewis told Valley he was sure he created the argument and told him he was sure Pte Boyd hadn't thrown a glass or punched Vallely to the back of the head as he'd claimed. The judge said: "I'm sure you created the argument and when Mr Boyd tried to get away you chased him down Lion Street and attacked him for no other reason than you wanted trouble. "Furthermore you knew the danger of punching him. You are an amateur boxer and you know how to punch and also know the danger."

Private Boyd, who was serving in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, had come to the Sennybridge Army camp in May of this year for a training course.

But the 20-year-old died when he became involved in an argument created by Vallely at around 12.45am in Lion Street, near the Cellar Bar.

Justice Lewis said Pte Boyd had gone for a Saturday night out with colleagues but after becoming separated from them had gone to the Cellar Bar, where Vallely was already at the bar. "You Jake Vallely were also out in Brecon that night. You however were aggressive, confrontational and threatening that whole evening.

"I'm in no doubt you were ready for trouble and indeed looking for trouble that night. Tragically for Matthew Boyd you were already in the Cellar Bar when he arrived."

Pte Boyd was attacked after he left the Cellar Bar and walked down Lion Street, past Vallely and a friend who were smoking in a shop doorway, but turned back after one of them called out to him.

The judge told Vallely: "You then blocked his path and prevented him from walking away. You were aggressive and confrontational to Mr Boyd, as you had been to others that evening. Mr Boyd was able to get away only for you to follow him and then run after him and chase him down Lion Street.

"When you did catch him there was a struggle, the last 47 seconds of which were caught on a CCTV camera on the wall of the Guildhall.

"During that 47 seconds you could be seen punching Mr Boyd repeatedly, you hit him at least twice then he fell to the ground. After he was on the ground you punched him repeatedly, time and time again until he was unconscious. It was a sustained, savage and senseless attack.

"You then dragged his motionless body into the street and left him there to die."

Justice Lewis told Vallely he'd shown no remorse at the time or since and his "sole concern" had been minimise his involvement and escape responsibility.

The judge said he'd carefully considered Vallely's intention but told him "despite the force used I can't be sure you intended to kill rather than inflict really serious bodily harm" which he said was the only mitigating factor in the case.

Ordering Vallely to stand, Justice Lewis told him: "For the murder of Matthew Boyd the sentence of this court is imprisonment for life. You will serve a minimum of 16 years."

Valley was then taken down to the cells. The 209 days Vallely has already spent on remand, since his arrest in May, will count towards his sentence.

Peter Rouch QC, representing Vallely, said the murder had been a tragedy for all involved.

He said: "It was a tragedy for Mr Boyd, who lost his life, and his family. It is also a tragedy for the defendant and those who are close to him.

"He is only 24, he has a close and supportive family and it is a tragedy he and his partner, who he was in a relationship with, were at the time of this offence getting back together."

Mr Rouch said Vallely and his former partner have a baby together who is aged only 15 months.

"He is besotted with his child who is only aged 15 months. The night before the defendant had stayed with his ex partner and left that Saturday to go and play football and go out following the game with members of the team.

"That indeed paints a fairly tragic picture, not just for Jake Vallely but those close to him."

Prosecutor Chris Quinlan QC had told the trial Pte Boyd, who died from a blunt head injury, had been the victim of a "violent, senseless attack".

He added: "Jake Vallely is the self-described hardest man in Brecon. This is how he described himself an hour or so before he attacked and killed Matthew Boyd.

During the trial the jury was shown CCTV pictures of the struggle between Valley and Private Boyd when the soldier went to the ground.

Describing the CCTV that showed the fatal attack to the jury, Mr Quinlan said: "The prosecution say it demonstrates quite clearly two men, as they come into view, engaged in an on-going struggle. One of them, Vallely, has got the better of the other, Mr Boyd, and has driven him to the ground.

"Once on the ground Mr Boyd is no longer, if he ever had been, a threat to this man. Once down he was punched repeatedly. You can see Vallely’s right arm is something like a piston, up and down, as he punched him. He completely overpowered that man.

"Then he dragged his still motionless body across the road and dropped it.

"It was a sustained, repeated attack, delivered with intent to cause at least really serious bodily harm and he left him, we say, obviously unconscious."

Mr Quinlan told the jury Vallely punched Pte Boyd twice before putting him to the ground when he delivered a further seven punches. He also alleged Vallely kicked his victim. Forensic officers found a small amount of the soldier’s blood on Vallely’s right trainer.

The jury was told Vallely, who’d earlier that day played football for Brecon Town FC, had been drunk and aggressive on a number of occasions during the Saturday night.

He’d been thrown out of a nightclub and twice from one pub and made a vile comment about rape to one woman. When she complained and said her boyfriend would be unhappy, Vallely responded by saying he would kill her boyfriend and boasted that that he was "the hardest man in Brecon".

Pte Boyd’s body was discovered by a passer-by just before 1am and despite attempts to save him by police and paramedics he died at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny at 2.35am on Sunday, May 8.

Vallely was arrested later that morning after attending at Brecon Police Station having called his boxing coach, an off-duty police officer. Vallely claimed he’d been involved in an argument with a soldier who’d fallen face first as he chased him down Lion Street.

Police had cordoned the area off after discovering Pte Boyd lying unconscious in the street. But when Vallely arrived for work, at the Ardent Gallery in High Street, that morning he sent a series of phone messages discussing the police activity and a fight he’d had in Lion Street that night. Mr Quinlan described the messages as "admissions".

Police also discovered Vallely’s white polo top, which had Pte Boyd and the defendant’s own blood on it, stuffed behind a chest of draws on the top floor of the three-storey gallery, where Valley said he’d gone to get a better view of the police cordon.

Vallely’s friend, Aaeron Evans, 23, of Cradoc Close, Brecon, was cleared of manslaughter at the trial.