Angler caught selling 'stolen' boat

A champion angler from South Staffordshire has been convicted of fraud after pocketing thousands of pounds of insurance money for a stolen boat which he had actually sold on the internet.

Fishing celebrity and professional angler Nigel Williams, of Shaw Hall Lane in Coven Heath, has been ordered to pay £4,800 in compensation after he pleaded guilty to making a dishonest claim.

Williams, who has caught more big fish than anyone else in Britain, made a claim to his insurance company in April 2007 for a fishing boat which he said had been stolen.

The company paid out three months later, writing the 49-year-old a cheque in July 2007 for £4,250 which he duly banked.

In August last year he sold the same boat on the internet to a buyer in the North East of England. But his scam was unravelled after an investigation by Staffordshire Police.

Williams, who previously ran a fishing tackle shop on Newhampton Road, Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, appeared before Stafford Crown Court last week where he pleaded guilty to the fraud.

A charge of perverting the course of justice was ordered to lie on file.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community order and will have to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the community. He will also have to pay his insurers £4,800 in compensation and £400 in court costs.

Williams has earned a reputation as an expert pike fisher and has netted a number of huge fish forging a career which has seen him become a minor celebrity in the fishing world.

In 2006 he pleaded guilty to smuggling live fish from the UK to Ireland, a common practice used among anglers in a bid to net large, prize-winning fish.

The practice is banned to prevent the spread of disease but Williams and fellow angler Gary Banks were caught by customs officers in May 2006 as they boarded a ferry from Holyhead to Ireland.