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'Prince' Naseem stripped of MBE after time in jail for car crash

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'Prince' Naseem stripped of MBE after time in jail for car crash



Audrey Gillan
Tuesday January 2, 2007
The Guardian


The former world boxing champion "Prince" Naseem Hamed has been stripped of his MBE following his 15-month prison sentence for dangerous driving.

The London Gazette, which records honours and is an official newspaper of the Crown, said: "The Queen has directed that the appointment of Naseem Hamed to be a Member of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 31 December 1998, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order."



A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office said it did not comment on individual cases but withdrawal of an honour was "extremely rare".

She said: "Forfeiture will be considered if evidence comes to light that someone has done something which shows they shouldn't have received an honour."

Hamed was convicted last May after the McLaren Mercedes sports car he was driving at 90mph smashed into another vehicle, leaving the driver with every major bone in his body broken and injuries to his brain. Rescuers said his physical state was "like soup".

The court was told that Anthony Burgin's "fantastic life" was destroyed by the crash. Witnesses said Hamed had been driving "like a maniac". He fled the scene as Mr Burgin and his wife Claire lay trapped in the wreckage of their car. He was arrested near his home as he tried to leave in another high-powered sports car. He served 16 weeks of his 15-month sentence and was released in September. He had previously been banned from driving after speeding at more than 100mph.

Hamed's former trainer, Brendan Ingle, said being stripped of the award would be a "terrible blow" to the former featherweight. "He will be very upset. It is really sad the way things have turned out. He was a fantastic champion." He said the boxer, his family and the whole Sheffield community were extremely proud when Hamed received his award.

Hamed received the honour in January 1999 amid consternation that his behaviour outside the ring made him a bad role model. Henry Cooper, himself an OBE, criticised the award. "I'm a fan of his ability in the ring - what I criticise him for is what he says outside it," the former heavyweight said. "He told Tom Johnson he would send him to the graveyard, and that crossed the line of decent behaviour. Who would want to talk like that?"

Dishonoured

In 1621 the philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon was charged with taking bribes, stripped of his title and fined. Sir Roger Casement, the Irish nationalist hero, lost his title before being hanged for treason in 1916. Kim Philby lost his OBE and Sir Anthony Blunt was stripped of his title of Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order when it was revealed they had been spies for the Soviet Union. The former champion jockey Lester Piggott was stripped of his OBE in 1988 after being jailed for a £3m tax fraud. Jack Lyons lost his knighthood after his conviction for fraud in the Guinness trial. The world darts champion Phil Taylor was relieved of his MBE last year after being convicted of assaulting two female fans. The Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was stripped of his honorary Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath the day before his execution on Christmas day 1989.




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