Blackpool kit man and ex cop accused of blackmailing millionaire owner of Robbie Williams’ football club
Port Vale’s kit man has been accused of trying to blackmail the football club’s millionaire owner for £15,000.
Former police hostage negotiator and Blackpool native Duncan Whitehead, 54, allegedly threatened to release damaging information about Port Vale’s 67-year-old owner Carol Shanahan if she did not hand over £15,000, according to The Sun.
Carol and her husband Kevin, who have owned the League Two club since 2019, turned Whitehead over to the police last October, but it has not yet been revealed what Whitehead was allegedly threatening to reveal about Ms Shanahan.
Shanahan, who earned her £10m fortune by founding the financial tech giant Synectics Solutions back in the 1990s, is also an associate of Take That’s Robbie Williams, who is Port Vale’s most famous fan. The 50-year-old Williams was made president earlier this year, but has no role in the club’s operation.
Whitehead appeared at North Staffordshire magistrates court last month but has yet to enter a plea. He will appear at Stoke-on-Trent crown court on January 5.
He previously served as a Lancashire Constabulary police officer from 1992 to 2014 but resigned to start a mental health charity before going on to work as a kit man for a string of lower league clubs, eventually joining Port Vale two years ago. A part-time writer, he also works as a private security guard.
Be sure not to miss...