A former Olympic boxer from Wales died days after being released from Swansea prison. Rennie, also known as Renny, Edwards was not properly supported by the probation service before his death at the age of 56, a prisons ombudsman report has found. Mr Edwards, from Haverfordwest, made an Olympics squad and then boxed professionally between 1988 and 1992, notching five wins and three losses, but he struggled with addiction in his later years and served multiple prison sentences. In December 2023 he was remanded in custody at HMP Swansea and the following month he was handed a 24-week jail term for common assault and battery. He told a prison nurse he was a heavy drinker but had recently cut down. Mr Edwards declined the support of the jail's substance misuse team and told them he knew how to access support if he needed it. In early March 2024 he was released on licence but later that month was recalled to HMP Swansea for breaching his licence conditions. Ahead of his release on April 2 he told his community offender manager he would like to be referred to the community drug and alcohol service to address his drinking. He was again released on licence but the next day recalled again because he had failed to attend a probation appointment. On April 15 he was released once more and later that day attended an induction appointment with the probation service in which he seemed “somewhat uncoordinated”, according to staff. The following day Mr Edwards attended the probation office as he mistakenly thought he had an appointment. Probation staff noted he appeared drunk and had wet himself so the receptionist did not let him in. Then, on April 22, he failed to attend a planned probation appointment and the community offender manager sent him a formal warning letter. F or the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here. On April 25 the manager received a phone call from Mr Edwards’ mother to say that he had been reported missing. Later that day he was found dead. The post-mortem report gave his cause of death as chronic alcohol misuse with epilepsy. Ombudsman Adrian Usher said: "Mr Edwards had a history of alcohol misuse, and he had a licence condition in place to address his alcohol problems. During appointments with probation staff before his release, Mr Edwards agreed to work with the community drug and alcohol service on release. However, probation staff failed to refer him to the community alcohol team. "When Mr Edwards attended his induction with probation staff on April 15, he was intoxicated. The senior probation officer told us Mr Edwards should have been referred to the community alcohol team after his induction appointment, but it was not completed. She said that the community offender manager may have been waiting for the next appointment to do this but she could not confirm this as he was on long-term sick leave from work. "When Mr Edwards turned up to the probation office unannounced on April 16, apparently intoxicated, the receptionist told us that he passed this information to the community offender manager by sending a message through Microsoft Teams. The senior probation officer was unable to confirm whether the community offender manager received this message but said that if he did, she would have expected him to contact Mr Edwards or arrange an unannounced home visit. There is no evidence that this was followed up or that Mr Edwards was referred to the community alcohol service at this point. "Although it is not possible to know whether Mr Edwards would have received an appointment before his death, there were multiple opportunities to refer Mr Edwards to the community alcohol service, which were missed by probation." The ombudsman recommended the probation service ensure that, when a risk is identified, appropriate referrals are "promptly completed to the relevant community services".