- Not Wynning ways - 21st November 2024
- Winning the race…. - 20th November 2024
- More turbulence - 19th November 2024
Further disturbing information has now emerged about the background of a convicted South Wales conman who had his legs broken when an illegal drugs deal soured, conned people out of thousands of pounds posing as an ‘Estate Agent’, is at the centre of a police investigation into an alleged attack, and The Eye have been alone in exposing.
Howard Williams aka James Daniels received a jail sentence for deception as founder and president of The Welsh Martial Arts Association.
He had been accepting money from affiliated dojos for insurance cover, not arranging the required cover and pocketing the cash.
Williams/Daniels had also arranged a claim for one of his own students who had suffered a broken wrist during a training session, and then kept the insurance payout himself.
The alarming details from Cardiff Magistrates Court in December 2005 can now be revealed by The Eye.
A Facebook post which led to a chain of comments from supporters minimises his criminal past and condemns “liars” even though he is one himself.
In the post he claimed: “… when I was younger I did spend a short while in prison for fraud in the UK”.
In fact our journalists have shown that over 10 years his jail sentences have totalled four years four months, involved 25 counts of deception, and he has been made bankrupt three times.
His own father Bill Williams has described Williams/Daniels to us as a “complete crook”. Williams Snr who ran a sofa business in South Wales, believes his son stole about £250,000 from him in cash and stock, and posted on Facebook that he and his wife knew of their son’s past and on occasions did not like him, although always loved him
He said: “… we know his wrongs often we felt he was a little xxxxx but whatever we allways (sic) love him, often we did,nt like him but we always have and always will love him…”. Unusually there was no positive comment to this from his son.
One of the previous disclosure by us of him, which led to the Facebook post, was our revelation that Williams/Daniels had announced his engagement even though he was still married.
Divorce proceedings were underway, but they must have raised more questions for his new fiancee Danni (or Danielle) Greer, and Williams/Daniels had himself called them in the Facebook post a “messy divorce”.
The Editor of The Eye Phil Parry as well as his friends, wife and children, have been subjected to a torrent of abuse on social media from Williams/Daniels and his supporters, following our discoveries.
In one tirade he wrote: “You write total lies about people (The Eye – we only report facts), bully to the point of harassment and suicide, and will not answer a direct email? This is not journalism this is a mixture of Phil Parry (The ex journalist) and (others) you are pure scum!!!!! Let it be publicly known that The Eye does NOT care about people it just lies to make fictitious stories up. BULLYING, LIES, MENTAL HEALTH ABUSE TO NAME BUT A FEW!!!!!”.
In another he said: “I am have contacted you (sic) numerous times before asking why you consistently, stalk, bully and harass me? … You so far have asked the following for comments:
Thief
Abuser (The Eye have never said Williams/Daniels is an abuser).
Liar
Sex Offender (The Eye have never said Williams/Daniels is a sex offender).
Drug user (The Eye have never said Williams/Daniels is a drug-user, just that he has dealt in illegal drugs).
Williams/Daniels moved to Murcia in Spain, changed his name, and has been in prison on a variety of charges. Apart from formerly dealing in illegal drugs when he needed hospital treatment after his legs were smashed following the badly-executed illegal drugs deal, he is also a convicted fraudster and some of his victims have been left mentally damaged by losing large amounts of money to him.
But as with our other revelations there is mounting consternation that the details have not been covered by the mainstream media in Wales.
In one of his previous ‘careers’ Williams/Daniels has tricked people into thinking he is an ‘Estate Agent’ but on one property website, the anger of an individual is clear: “He (Williams/Daniels) makes you pay circa £10k deposit and then disappears into the sunset”. At a property event in the South of England The Eye were told that an investor had lost £30,000 to him.
His extraordinary exploits have even been the subject of our satirical writer Edwin Phillips and Williams/Daniels has boasted of owning a boat as well as a jetski, which he has said on Facebook was for sale.
He has posted a Youtube interview on his property website where he brags about his property ‘expertise’. He claims he had a “massive” estate agency business, but went from earning £20,000 a week to having just £56 in his pocket and living on the streets. Williams/Daniels also alleges he has driven expensive cars, and said in the interview that it took just “24 hours” to turn the £56 into £1,000, yet some critics have questioned how much of this is true.
One who is owed thousands of pounds by Williams/Daniels told The Eye: “This is all made up. He lives in a complete fantasy world!”.
Williams/Daniels has been in charge, too, of marketing for a Spanish wine bar called ‘Blanco’ in Murcia, and he announced his engagement to Ms Greer on the bar’s website, where the original ‘liar’ post was also published.
But our journalists have divulged how over Christmas and New Year he warned customers on social media that they could no longer accept credit cards at Blanco, even though these periods are the busiest times of year for restaurants, and further told customers more recently there was limited payment methods.
He also ran dance nights at a disco in Spain called ‘Roldan’ but it closed soon after our disclosures.
Following them, Williams/Daniels asked a specialist company how to “get rid” of the “negative” stories about him on the internet. He wrote: “When I google James daniels spain or James Daniels property or James Daniels murcia a load of website links appear for the-eye.wales which are negative reviews and not true (The Eye – nothing is untrue). How do I get rid of these an(d) how much does it cost? Also how long does it take?”.
As well as having his legs broken when an illegal drugs deal soured, we have also disclosed how formerly Williams/Daniels has teamed up with another ex-criminal from South Wales, who had been put behind bars for drug offences, to start a ‘charity’. He launched the ‘Crisis Housing Charity’ and asked for donations from the public in a venture designed ostensibly to help ex-convicts find homes. The ‘charity’ gave an address in Cardiff but does not now exist.
There were also a mysterious burglary and fire at his parents South Wales home and the dates are intriguing.
Williams/Daniels was convicted at Cardiff Magistrates Court in December 2005 and on November 21 2006 his parents’ home was burgled.
Dates and insurance deception convictions for Williams/Daniels are interesting, as is his recent past.
Our Editor Mr Parry’s memories of his extraordinary 36-year award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the incurable disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major new book ‘A Good Story’. Order the book now. The picture doubles as a cut-and-paste poster!
