Jonathan Hope (pictured) lied about being a football agent
A convicted child pornographer who lied that he brokered England footballer Danny Welbeck’s £16million move to Arsenal has been found dead in his flat.
Jonathan Hope, 38, from Ayr, Scotland, was ostracised from the area when people found out he took indecent photos of children between 2011 and 2014.
The father-of-one later moved to Glasgow and it is believed he killed himself at his new home last week.
His ex-girlfriend said he was a ‘regular user of steroids’ and another source added he claimed he was in jail for ‘beating someone up’ after lying about the child offences.
Hope even tried to gag The Daily Record in 2014 to prevent them revealing his two convictions for child sex abuse offences, but his lawyers eventually pulled out.
A source told the newspaper: ‘Hope claimed he’d converted to Islam and was said to be attending a mosque five times a day for prayers.
‘He was ostracised from Ayrshire when people realised what he’d done. He disappeared from Ayr a year ago.’
The source added: ‘His whole life was made up. He’d lie about the child offences and claimed he was in jail for beating someone up.
‘We heard he was stalking women while pretending to be a convert to Islam. Nobody in Ayrshire will be surprised to hear this.’
Police are not treating his death as suspicious.
He was convicted at Ayr Sheriff Court last year after he took indecent photographs of children at his home.
His ex-girlfriend said that he was a ‘regular user’ of steroids and that he kept lying to his friends
Hope was placed on the sex offenders’ register for three years and it came after he was jailed in 2003 for three counts of downloading depraved images.
Despite not being registered with the SFA or the FA, he claimed he had brokered transfer deals for a number of top-flight professional footballers.
He even went on BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT in 2014 to discuss his ‘involvement’ with Welbeck’s move from Manchester United to Arsenal.
Hope said on talkSPORT: ‘Danny doesn’t want to go on loan. He wants a straight transfer and he has every right to say that.
‘In the last half an hour, I have received some interest in a straight transfer which I’m going to speak to Manchester United about.’
However, the north London club confirmed they had no dealings with Hope.