Dishonours list ( 2)
EIGHT holders of honours – including a disgraced chief constable and a convicted deputy head teacher – have forfeited their award for bringing the system into disrepute.
Nick Gargan was forced to resign from Avon & Somerset Police in 2015 following a suspension for inappropriate behaviour towards women and a probe that led to him being found guilty of eight charges of misconduct.
Last week, the Government quietly announced his Queen’s Police Medal – received in 2011 – had been ‘cancelled and annulled’ by the Queen.
And f o r mer d e p u t y h e a d teacher David Kemp lost the MBE he received from the Queen in 2013. He was found guilty after a police investigation of trying to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
The decision to strip Gargan, Kemp and six others of their awards was made by the honours forfeiture committee, made up of senior Government officials and lawyers. The Queen has to approve their recommendations. There is no right of appeal.
The latest dishonours list follows The Mail on Sunday’s revelation earlier this year that a record 11 holders of top honours had been stripped of their awards.
In recent years it has become increasingly common for disgraced recipients to lose their honours, with insiders crediting the internet and stronger due diligence.
Meanwhile, the two Hollywood A-listers facing a welter of accusations of sexual assault retain their honours: producer Harvey Weinstein, who has an honorary CBE, and actor Kevin Spacey, who has an honorary knighthood.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission reported that Gargan had used his work phone to send and receive inappropriate messages and pictures and had leaked confidential information to a BBC journalist who was his girlfriend.
Last night, Gargan would only comment that he had ‘ nothing to say’.