Ex-Tipton Town chairman jailed over £276k fraud

The former chairman of Tipton Town FC was today starting a five-and-a-half year jail term for pocketing more than £276,000 from the life insurance and pension policies of a murdered father.

Accountant Bill Williams splashed the cash on luxury family holidays to the USA, season tickets at Aston Villa and lavish family parties.

He set in motion plans to steal money owed to the two-year-old daughter of South Staffordshire company director Andrew Diack just days after the 29-year-old was stabbed to death in a Wolverhampton pub.

Williams listed himself as an executor of an insurance and pension policy he helped to set up for Mr Diack.

Thousands was also ploughed into Tipton Town FC. The rest was spent on clearing debts and office improvements for his Dudley-based accountancy firm.

Today we can reveal that Williams also ripped off pensioners Ronald and Sheila Haynes for almost £97,000.

He was also jailed in 1986 for a previous £100,000 fraud while manager of Great Wyrley-based Harrisons FC. He was using the stolen cash to pay semi-professional footballers.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, Judge Amjad Nawaz described bankrupt Williams as a man who "preyed on the vulnerable".