‘What the heck happened here?’ Former OPP Commissioner reacts to London man ‘erroneously released’ from police custody

How was an attempted murder suspect accidentally released from custody? CTV News London's Brent Lale reports.

A man who was ‘erroneously released’ after appearing in court on attempted murder charges has been re-arrested by the London Police Service (LPS).

Cody Anthony Leblanc Ashe, 28, of London was located and arrested outside the city by LPS, two days after he was let go accidentally.

Police said the arrest was conducted by members of the LPS Investigative Response Unit, with the assistance of the LPS Mobile Surveillance Unit, Emergency Response Unit, Patrol Operations Investigative Section, Major Crime Section, and Bail Compliance and Warrant Apprehension Unit.

“My initial reaction to this was what the heck happened here?” said Chris Lewis, former OPP Commissioner and CTV News public safety analyst.

“I’m sure that’s what the police officials and the Attorney General and Ministry of Solicitor General officials are all thinking. Time will tell on that, but we shouldn’t have dangerous offenders just kind of absentmindedly or through some clerical error, be released from custody into society.”

Friday evening, LPS frantically sent out a news release and spoke to local media asking for the public’s help in locating Leblanc Ashe.

Police were worried as they considered Leblanc Ashe a threat to public safety.

“He should be in custody in relation to several serious charges, including attempted murder,” Wright told CTV News.

“He should be considered armed and dangerous.”

Acting Insp. Maria Wright said he was not released by LPS and was in the custody of the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

Speaking to LPS Saturday, they were still looking for more details from the Ministry as Leblanc Ashe was not in their custody at the time of his accidental release.

CTV News has reached out to the province for details on how this could have happened but has yet to receive a response.

“There is still a lot of unknowns about what happened here and there has been some big mistakes made somewhere here,” said Lewis.

Lewis admits it has been a long time since he “did policing” in London and worked with the courts or Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC).

“I recall a time where either the police or court security staff/correctional employees of some sort, brought the individuals that were in custody to London Court and brought them up into the courtroom and then brought them back at the end of the day,” he said.

“Some real high-profile offenders were brought both ways by police because they were bikers or something fairly significant. In this case, they were likely brought by court transportation officers. That should have been brought back after that. So somehow or another where did this guy suddenly get told, okay, you can go now? During the ride back, when he got to the jail? It’s very difficult to tell at this point but somebody needs to find out what the heck happened, so it doesn’t happen again.”

Leblanc Ashe is accused of attempted murder and other charges. He was arrested in October 2024 after a man was hospitalized with serious injuries a month earlier on Boullee Street in London, Ont.

Lewis credited the LPS for their quick action.

“Good for London police to get the message out correct and deal with other police services and ultimately captured this guy. That’s a good news story,” Lewis said.

“The bad news story is that this is an obvious slip up on the part of someone. London police say it’s Minister of Solicitor General staff, which would mean correctional services staff. So, there’d be a lot of discussions going on around how this occurred and how it should not ever occur again.”

Police said Leblanc Ashe remains in custody and thanked the public for assistance with “several tips our investigators followed up on which assisted with the swift resolution of this investigation.”

Lewis said several high-profile people have been brought in and out of the London Courthouse over the years, including Outlaw Motorcycle gang members. Like the public, he’ll wait for answers to what went wrong.

“Luckily it happened in this case and not something worse,” said Lewis.

“But at the very same time, public safety was jeopardized by the fact this guy was released.”