Eley played in domestic tournaments, was a chess coach and gave simultaneous exhibitions. For a period around 1971, he wrote an infrequent chess column for the Morning Telegraph of Sheffield. He also ran a chess retail business, supplying books, sets, etc.
It was a major upset when Eley won the 1972 British Championship. In the Chessgames.dom database his last tournament listed is Hastings, 1973. He had a peak FIDE rating of 2350.
A few years ago one person posting in a chess forum stated that as early as 1980 rumors about Eley being involved in child molestation were floating around and when the British Chess Federation got wind of them, he was never given any position involving responsibility for junior players.
In July, 1991 Eley was arrested at his South Yorkshire home on suspicion of sexually abusing an underage male he had once coached. He was released on bail. Although not charged at that time, Eley jumped bail approximately a month after his arrest and disappeared. He was subsequently charged with more than 30 offenses of a similar nature and remains a fugitive. All the references I found said he is wanted by the British police and Interpol., but I am not sure that is any longer the case. His name does not appear in a search of persons wanted by Interpol.
On the same forum another poster claimed to have played Eley at a chess club in Amsterdam. He did not know who Eley was, but knew there was some controversy surrounding him, and that he was a very strong player who hustled for money. He thought many of the Dutch players simply regarded Eley as a victim of British injustice. He was also curious as to why the British never applied to the Dutch government for a warrant for his arrest and extradition.
John Nunn remarked that Eley "became the only British Chess Champion...to appear on the television program Crimewatch."
In the following game he crushes many time British champ Jonathan Penrose.
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