Bradford's John 'Boy' Walton, an unseeded 50-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, became darts' newest hero last night when he wrenched the Embassy World Championship title from Ted Hankey's grasp.

Only people within the game who had witnessed Walton's World Masters triumph at the Lakeside last month were aware of the Yorkshireman's credentials when he returned to the Frimley Green venue for this event.

But in the space of nine days, the 39-year-old who now lives in Sheffield has proven himself a worthy addition to the Embassy roll of honour having produced some of the finest darts ever seen in the sport's most prestigious tournament.

Walton became the first bespectacled champion with a 6-2 victory over Hankey, upsetting the odds in the final even though few would argue his form throughout the week had been superior to that of the title holder.

Although Hankey, known as 'The Count', had disposed of second and third seeds Raymond Barneveld and Andy Fordham, Walton's three dart average had been consistently higher and he had dropped only four sets.

Yet Hankey was confident of becoming only the third man to retain the crown and walked on stage - clad in his trademark Dracula cloak and tossing imitation bats into the crowd - looking more focused than ever.

But the tone of the match was set at the outset when Hankey scored only 22 with his opening three darts, while Walton notched up the first of his eight maximum scores of 180 en route to taking the leg against the darts.

Walton went on to win the first set with a 'Shanghai' on the 20s for a 120 checkout, and also took the next to stun his 32-year-old opponent, who had two darts to make it 1-1.

Seventh seed Hankey pulled one back to reduce his deficit to 2-1. A brilliant 12-dart leg restored Walton's two-set lead but Hankey claimed the fifth to put himself firmly in the match at the five-minute break.

A year ago, the sixth set was the one that gave Hankey the title as he whitewashed Ronnie Baxter 6-0, but this time he lost it and Walton also took the next to be just one set from victory.

The writing was on the wall for Hankey, whose game was becoming increasingly ragged and his customary snarl had turned to a frown as he repeatedly snatched his arrows out of the board.

A 76 checkout put Walton within one leg of the crown and although the next proved a scrappy affair, he slotted a double eight which meant 'Goodnight Ted' and secured him the £46,000 first prize.

"This means the world to me," said Walton, who was presented with the trophy by Sports Minister Kate Hoey.

"It's an unbelievable feeling. When I hit the double eight I just wanted to fly. I'm absolutely delighted.

"It means I'm only the third person, after Eric Bristow and Richie Burnett, to follow up winning the World Masters with the Embassy title and I'm so pleased to be mentioned in the same breath as those people. I went out there telling myself just to win the legs in which I threw first, although I really wanted to nick the first one, when Ted had the darts, and I did that.

"After that, I just treated every set like it was the first. I wasn't thinking it was for the championship, even near the end.

"The only other time I've played in this tournament was two years ago when I lost in the first round to Roland Scholten and now look at me."

Hankey, who scored 180 on 14 occasions, admitted he had no answer to Walton's brilliant display.

"John played superbly," said the Stoke-born player.

"He was buzzing. I hit 180s all the time but I just couldn't get away from him.

"I knew I had to win the sets in which I threw first but he hits so many 140s and 180s.

"When you go 4-2 down it's always hard to come back in a best-of-11 match. I missed a couple of doubles but I've no complaints."

Hankey had to content himself with the runner-up's prize of £23,000, while first-round loser Steve Coote of Bolton received £2,000 for the highest check-out of 167.