'I fit blinds for Jota's windows, he was lovely'

Stephen Billingsley visited Jota's house to fit window blinds, and says people in Wolverhampton felt "devastated" at the news of his death

A man who fitted blinds in Diogo Jota's house during his time playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers has described him as "lovely".

The Portuguese international and his brother died in a car crash on in the province of Zamora in Spain in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Stephen Billingsley, who fits window blinds, said people in the city felt "devastated" at the news, even those who were not football fans.

"It's still quite sad, especially for a mum to lose two children like that. It's devastating," he said.

Speaking to BBC WM he recalled a day when he was driving down the road, and got a phone call from the footballer.

"It's this person talking a foreign accent saying 'I am Diogo Jota' and I thought it was one of my friends taking the mickey so I just cut him off," Mr Billingsley said.

Floral tributes have been left at Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux Stadium

He said his phone rang again, and Jota urged him not to hang up, saying he would often get cut off because nobody believed it was really him.

"I measured his blind, and I was nervous just to meet him actually," Mr Billingsley said.

"I was gobsmacked that he found me [to do the work] even though I'm a local company."

He added: "I measured his blinds in about 10 minutes, the windows and what he wanted doing, but then I ended up stopping at his house for about an hour and a half talking about Wolves."

He said the footballer had told him it would sometimes have taken him about an hour to pick up a loaf of bread from the supermarket because he was so often stopped for selfies and autographs.

He added that Jota had even phoned to personally cancel an order when moving clubs meant he no longer needed new blinds for his windows.