Blind West Bromwich Albion star faces jail after miracle cure scam

Jun 20 2010

A BLIND West Bromwich Albion footballer is facing jail after conning a friend in a ‘despicable’ miracle cure scam.

Adam Young duped the fellow charity worker into giving him £1,000 to pay off a loan shark he claimed was threatening him over an unpaid debt.

The 25-year-old managed to convince his partially-sighted pal that he had borrowed the cash to travel to China for radical, sight-restoring surgery. The victim had been against lending Young the money until he met him in person and said: “I can see again!’’

But it was all a despicable act to deceive a well-meaning friend out of hard-earned cash, police sources have revealed.

Young never went to China and remains totally blind.

The conman, from Erdington, Birmingham, is now facing a possible jail sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud at Warwick Crown Court on Thursday.

The footballer, a valued member of West Bromwich Albion Blind Football Team, was arrested by West Midlands Police at an address in Birmingham on Wednesday night. He had been wanted by the force since March 18 after failing to turn up at Warwick Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing.

On Thursday he admitted two counts of fraud in connection with two separate victims.

He was granted conditional bail and sentencing was adjourned until the week beginning July 12.

Last night, a senior police source said: “This was a particularly despicable crime by a duplicitous individual who duped a well-meaning friend into giving him his hard-earned cash.”

To all who knew him Young was an athletic young blind man who had not allowed his disability to hold him back in life. Since losing his sight completely some years ago, he had competed in numerous sports competitions.