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A South Wales conman who had his legs broken when a drugs deal went wrong, spent years in prison, who announced his engagement even though he was still married, and was exclusively exposed by The Eye, has returned to his old crooked ways of running cafes, we can reveal.
Jailbird Howard Williams/James Daniels now declares himself manager of another ‘business’ called ‘Crave Desserts’ in Merthyr Tydfil, and a further one was ‘Scoops’ in Pontyclun, but he has said on Facebook there was a major “ongoing business related issue” here.
A third cafe is in the Roath area of Cardiff, but, as with the others, this is now closed which may be good news for him as he owes landlords rent.
We also understand Williams/Daniels has a new partner, although we showed how a few months ago he announced on social media his engagement to another woman while he was still married to a third person.
Our journalists have disclosed too that Williams/Daniels has opened a tanning studio in Cardiff, although like many of his past businesses this one is also in trouble.
It seems that many people have been taken in by his lies.
Someone close to him who has contacted us said he has “sucked everyone in” and that after ‘running’ several other firms, he owes staff as well as landlords “lots of money”.
The reviews of his Cafe ‘businesses’ are not good and it appears he is taking orders but not sending out food.
One critical comment reads: “We didn’t receive the BBQ Chicken Wrap in the order. We have tried to ring twice but no answer”.
The details of the latest activities of Williams/Daniels provide a fascinating insight into the life of a man who has formerly dealt in unlawful drugs, and needed hospital treatment after his legs were smashed following a badly-executed illegal drugs deal.
Before returning to South Wales, Howard Williams had moved to Murcia in Spain, changed his name to ‘James Daniels’, and hid the fact that he has been in prison for lengthy terms on a variety of charges (his own father has described him to us as a “complete crook”).
But as with our other discloures there is mounting consternation that the details have not been covered by the mainstream media in Wales.
Williams/Daniels has admitted to being imprisoned but described it in a Facebook post as a “short while”, when his convictions in fact total more than four years.
He claimed: “… when I was younger I did spend a short while in prison for fraud in the UK”, and added: “Stand up to the liars (and) haters…”.
But Williams/Daniels himself is a liar and hater. Our journalists have shown how over 10 years his jail sentences have totalled four years four months, involving 25 counts of deception, and he has been made bankrupt three times.
In one of his previous ‘careers’ he has conned 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 been the subject of our satirical writer Edwin Phillips.
Williams/Daniels has boasted of owning a boat as well as a jetski, which he has said on Facebook was for sale.
When he was an ‘Estate Agent’, he posted a YouTube interview on his property website where he bragged about his property ‘expertise’. He claimed 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 alleged 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!”.
He has too 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 back-up 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 come from the records of Cardiff Magistrates Court in December 2005.
Williams/Daniels has been in charge as well of marketing for a Spanish wine bar called ‘Blanco’ in Murcia, and he announced his engagement to Danni (or Danielle) Greer on the bar’s website, where the ‘liar’ post was also published.
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?”.
Apart from 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.
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 harassme? … 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’ ex-business partner, Sam McManus (also known as ‘Georgeson’), has first-hand knowledge of his lies.
He has admitted he too was conned by him and that he was a ‘sick man’. Mr McManus explained to us how he was deceived along with everyone else, and told The Eye: “He (Williams/Daniels) has fooled many people and I can only be grateful that there are good investigative journalists like you guys who expose greedy people like him. It is embarrassing to admit that I am yet another victim of his greed”.
Apart from describing his son as a crook, Williams’/Daniels’ father has told us how he was called by the police to Clifton suspension bridge where Williams/Daniels was threatening to commit suicide, and how he spent part of a Christmas day outside the walls of Cardiff jail to be near his son inside.
Bill Williams, who ran a sofa business in South Wales, believes his son stole about £250,000 from him in cash and stock. He has 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…”.
Williams/Daniels also said he performed at expensive property ‘seminars’ in upmarket hotels or golf clubs around South Wales where customers were duped once again. For £299 potential clients were tempted with a “Special Offer February Deal – Sourcing and rent to rent training weekend”. The ‘offer’ was removed from Williams/Daniels’ Facebook site, where he was known as ‘The Shoes’, soon afterwards, and when The Eye contacted one of the golf clubs, officials had no record of it taking place.
Among the many accusations on social media from Williams/Daniels to the family of Mr Parry, is that we are pursuing a person with, as he puts it, “severe mental health illness” and cases of this are well known to our Editor.
Yet it is others who deserve sympathy.
The real victims are those whose lives have been ruined by his drug-dealing and the innocent people who have been tricked out of thousands of pounds, as well as, maybe, Ms Greer.
So people are advised not to go to any of Williams/Daniels’ ‘businesses’ once the lockdown is over – or customers might be tricked out of their money again…
Our Editor Phil 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 book ‘A Good Story’. Order the book now. The picture doubles as a cut-and-paste poster!
If you need something to keep the kids entertained during these uncertain times (in Welsh) try Ffwlbart Ffred about the amusing stories of Ffred and his pet.
