- Wallace and groaner - 4th December 2024
- Wordplay part four - 3rd December 2024
- Terms of endearment (Wordplay part three) - 2nd December 2024
The parents’ house of a crooked South Wales property ‘expert’ exposed by The Eye who had his legs broken when a drugs deal soured is for sale, we can reveal.
Still unsold, it was this month moved to another Estate Agent and has now been remarketed at £399,950.
But problems in the property market have long been a feature of Howard Williams’ life.
Despite claiming he is a property ‘expert’ we showed how Williams does not actually own the house advertised as the headquarters of one of his ‘businesses’.
Williams’ father Bill told The Eye how his son was a “complete crook” and stole £250,000 from him in cash and stock from his business.
Yet Bill Williams has also described to us how he and his wife had spent part of a Christmas day outside the walls of Cardiff jail to be near their son, and how he was called by the police to Clifton suspension bridge where Howard was threatening to kill himself.
Howard Williams’ own business dealings have been less than successful.
We disclosed how he changed his name to James Daniels and in a past ‘company’ he ‘sold’ or ‘rented out’ luxury villas at Murcia in Spain, but customers complained that he disappeared after pocketing deposits worth thousands of pounds.
Over 10 years, his jail sentences have totalled four years four months, and they have involved 25 counts of deception.
He has been made bankrupt three times and he has fleeced countless innocent people.
At one property event in the South of England The Eye were told that an investor had lost £30,000 with Williams.
On a property website, the anger of one individual is clear: “He (Williams/Daniels) makes you pay circa £10k deposit and then disappears into the sunset”.
Williams/Daniels was also in charge of evenings at the ‘Discoteca CopyRight Roldan’, but new adverts for it were removed after our earlier reports about him on The Eye.
He 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’ Facebook site, where he was known as ‘The Shoes’, soon afterwards, and when The Eye contacted the golf club involved, officials had no record of it taking place.
Even inside his own ‘organisations’ Williams’ methods are clear, with his former partner explaining to us how he was also conned.
Sam McManus (also known as ‘Georgeson’) told us: “He (Williams) 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”.
Response to our revelations has been enormous.
One of our readers said: “The guy is a compulsive liar.
“4 years for 23 (sic) convictions seems pathetic to me.
“Not enough intelligence to rehabilitate from what’s clearly a mental illness.
“Let’s hope the next drug deal goes bad too!”
Another said: “Howard Williams, AKA James Daniels is alive and well and living on El Valle Golf Resort, Murcia, Spain”.
A further source called him “a conman”.
But others were less than happy with our disclosures.
The following angry comment was posted on our Facebook page by someone describing himself as Howard Williams, with a profile picture of a sunny beach and a man with a large stomach: “You write total lies about people, bully to the point of harassment and suicide, and will not answer a direct email (The Eye has had none from a Howard Williams)? 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!!!!!”.
But ‘selling’ and ‘renting out’ luxury villas in Spain are not the only strings to Howard Williams’ bow.
As well as questionable property deals and holding disco dances which were then suspended, illegal drugs have also been central to his life.
Apart from being attacked and having his legs broken when one deal went badly wrong, we have also revealed how in the past Williams has teamed up with another man, jailed for drug offences.
He launched the ‘Crisis Housing Charity’ and asked for donations from the public in a venture designed ostensibly to help former convicts find homes.
The ‘charity’ gave an address in Cardiff but it does not now exist.
Perhaps selling the family home is the best option, even if it is with another Estate Agent.
Maybe this will be a success and there will not be any broken legs…
Also on The Eye – why a Labour Assembly Member proposing rent controls needs education about how to spend public money.
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