Darts world champion who amassed riches went bankrupt and lived on £67.50 a week

Darts icon Jocky Wilson has long been remembered as one of the sport's most colourful characters. However, his life came to a tragic end at the age of 62 in March 2012, when he was living as a recluse on a mere £67.50 per week.

This was in stark contrast to the life that seemed destined for Wilson when he clinched his first World Darts Championship in 1982. He secured another BDO world title seven years later and remained a formidable contender in the sport's premier competition, reaching the quarter-final stage or beyond 13 times in as many appearances between 1979 and 1991. The Scot experienced a meteoric rise in the sport following a successful stint in the late 1970s. He joined the BDO in 1978 and rapidly became a regular presence in the latter stages of numerous major tournaments over the next decade.

Wilson was among the darting elite who broke away from the BDO to join the newly formed WDC (now known as the PDC) in 1993. However, health problems, including a diagnosis of diabetes that meant he could no longer drink during matches, soon began to affect his performance.

For his second world championship victory in 1989, Wilson pocketed £20,000, along with several other substantial earnings throughout his career. Yet he declared bankruptcy in 1998, two years after retiring from professional play, and returned to Kirkcaldy, where he resided in a one-bedroom flat on the council estate where he grew up.

From the lofty heights of darts, Wilson managed to survive on an incapacity benefit of barely £3,500 a year. Unlike other legends of the sport who transitioned into punditry after their playing days, Wilson faded into obscurity, rarely venturing out of his flat.

In addition to being diagnosed with diabetes, Wilson also battled arthritis in his hands, which further hindered his ability to play. A heavy smoker for years, consuming up to 50 cigarettes a day, he later developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, several years before his death in 2012.

In 1996, Wilson was quoted as saying: "I've been let down once or twice in my life, but I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. There's only one person to blame for the situation I'm in, and that's me."

A former drinking companion, Jimmy Skirving, once told The Observer: "You could always rely on him. But I can assure you, Jocky was taken advantage of. Once he won a holiday and some suitcases. He got home with neither - he sold the holiday for 50 quid and the cases for a tenner."

At the time, The Observer reported Wilson "shuttles between bed and the living room sofa, where he watches television underneath a giant picture of himself cradling his first world championship trophy." By then, his only regular human interaction was with the doctors who treated him and his wife, Malvina.

His spouse revealed that despite any pain he might have experienced fading from public view, Wilson continued to follow the darts on television. When questioned whether he still watched tournaments, Malvina said: "Oh aye. That he does. It's just the bed and TV for him."

The Fife-born legend would undoubtedly have been watching this year's competition closely as Luke Littler attempts to retain his crown. Sadly, Wilson never enjoyed the same level of success the PDC offered before his unfortunate descent into obscurity.