Layton Jonathan Maxwell (born 3 October 1979) is a Welsh convicted criminal, and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and manager. He played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, notably for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

where despite not featuring in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

he would play and score in a single

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

game in 1999. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Stockport County,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. He also played in the

League of Wales The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

for

Barry Town Barry Town United Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl Droed Tref Y Barri) is a semi-professional association football team based in Barry, Wales. They are known for representing Wales in Europe as winners of the Cymru Premier and Welsh Cup during ...

Carmarthen Town Carmarthen Town Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Tref Caerfyrddin) is a Welsh semi-professional football club based in Carmarthen. The team play their home games at Richmond Park. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit ...

, Rhyl,

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

, Caernarfon Town and Aberaman Athletic. He was capped 14 times at Wales U21 and later had a spell as manager of Cardiff Draconians. In 2022, he was jailed for eight years for his part in a drug operation that saw police find drugs worth £6 million and £2.5 million in cash at his

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

home.

Playing career

Liverpool

Born in St Asaph and brought up in nearby

Dyserth Dyserth ( cy, Diserth) is a village, community and electoral ward in Denbighshire, Wales. Its population at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 2,269 and was estimated by the Office for National Statistics as 2,271 in 2019. It lies within the h ...

, Maxwell began his career as a trainee with Liverpool. He became a regular in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, keeping

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

out of the squad on occasion, and signed a professional contract with the club by the time he was 19. He made his debut for the Liverpool first team in a League Cup match against Hull City on 21 September 1999, scoring Liverpool's second goal at the Kop End in a 4–2 win. However, that proved to be Maxwell's only appearance for the Reds, and he was loaned out to Stockport County for the final year of his contract, scoring two goals in 23 appearances. When his contract expired at the end of the 2000–01 season, Maxwell was given a free transfer and signed for Cardiff City.

Cardiff City

Maxwell made a promising start to his Cardiff career, making 21 appearances in his first season at Ninian Park. His second season with the Bluebirds went in a similar fashion, making a further 22 appearances in the first six months of the 2002–03 season. However, he was loaned to

for the remainder of the season. Maxwell returned to Cardiff for the start of the 2003–04 season, but only made two more appearances before being granted a free transfer to

in March 2004. His only goal for Cardiff came in a league match away to Northampton Town. Before the end of the 2003–04 season, Maxwell managed to play three games for the Swans, but was again given a free transfer in June 2004.

League of Wales

In the summer of 2004, Maxwell signed for

and made eight appearances before transferring to

. He went on trial with Newport County later in the season before finally moving back to North Wales to sign for Rhyl. Again, his tenure with Rhyl was short-lived and he signed for

for the 2005–06 season. It was at Bangor that Maxwell finally managed to hold down a first team place, making 31 appearances and scoring 4 goals, but he was yet again sold on at the end of the season and moved to Caernarfon Town in July 2006. After an inconsistent spell at Caernarfon (his final season yielded only 13 starts and 1 goal), Maxwell went on trial with Port Talbot Town in the summer of 2008, but failed to earn a contract. Shortly before the start of the 2008–09 season, Maxwell signed for Welsh League side Aberaman Athletic, followed by spells at Maesteg Park and Pontypridd United, either side of a return to Barry.

Management career

He managed Cardiff Draconians but stepped down in December 2020 citing increased work commitments.

Criminal activity

In 2020, Maxwell was arrested in the National Crime Agency's Operation Venetic after they broke the encrypted Encrochat messaging service. In May 2021, he appeared at

Cardiff Crown Court Cardiff Crown Court ( cy, Llys y Goron Caerdydd) is a historic building situated in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales. The building is a Grade I listed building. As a Crown Court venue it is part of the Wales Circuit of Her Majesty's Courts Servi ...

, where he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class-A drug, namely cocaine. On 18 October 2022, Maxwell was jailed for eight years for his part in the operation. It was reported police had found drugs worth £6 million and £2.5 million in cash at his Cardiff home and had allowed a gang to use his premises as a safe house. Maxwell was paid £500 a month to be courier for the gang who were moving

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

between Cardiff and Liverpool.

Honours

Cardiff City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

play-off: 2002–03 * FAW Premier Cup: 2001–02

References

External links

*
Liverpool FC profileWelsh Premier League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Leyton 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from St Asaph Footballers from Denbighshire Welsh men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wales men's under-21 international footballers Liverpool F.C. players English Football League players Cardiff City F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Carmarthen Town A.F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Caernarfon Town F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Maesteg Park A.F.C. players Pontypridd United A.F.C. players Cymru Premier players Aberdare Town F.C. players Cardiff Draconians F.C. managers Welsh football managers 21st-century Welsh criminals Welsh people convicted of drug offences Welsh prisoners and detainees Sportspeople convicted of crimes