Disgraced presenter Stuart Hall loses OBE
Wednesday 23 OctOber 2013 BRoADCASTeR Stuart Hall has been stripped of his oBe in the wake of his conviction for sex offences against children.
A notice was put in the London Gazette yesterday confirming that the Queen had directed that the honour should be “cancelled and anulled”.
Former It’s A Knockout presenter Hall was made an oBe in 2012 for services to broadcasting and charity.
The 83-year-old is currently serving a 30-month jail term for sexually abusing 13 victims over a period of nearly 20 years. He was initially given a 15-month term, but the Court of Appeal ruled the sentence “inadequate” and it was doubled in July.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said Hall’s initial denials of his crimes were a “seriously aggravating” feature in the case.
Hall, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, eventually admitted 14 counts of indecent assault against girls aged between nine and 17 over a period of 20 years in April, and a reporting ban on his pleas was lifted in May.
He had previously condemned the accusations, which he labelled “pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious”. Hall said he had endured “a living nightmare” and, but for his “very loving family”, may have considered taking his own life.
He was a familiar face and voice in British broadcasting for half a century, and his eccentric and erudite football match summaries made him a cult figure on BBC Radio 5 Live. He also wrote a weekly sport column for the Radio Times until the time of his arrest..
An independent forfeiture committee decides whether recipients should lose honours if they have brought the system into disrepute, and its decision is then announced in the London Gazette.
The notice published said: “The Queen has directed that the appointment of James Stuart Hall to be an officer of the Civil Division of the Most excellent order of the British empire, dated 31 December, 2011, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the
said order.”