11 November 1998
Broadcasters drop Boycott as assault conviction is upheld
By David Graves and Susannah Herbert in Paris
GEOFFREY BOYCOTT faced an uncertain future in sports broadcasting
and a £200,000 legal bill last night after a French judge upheld
a conviction for assaulting his former girlfriend.
Boycott, 58, who has been earning an estimated £100,000 a year as
a cricket commentator, is unlikely to broadcast again. His last
commentating job, in Pakistan for Australian television,
co-incidentally ended yesterday as the guilty verdict was
delivered after a retrial.
The BBC, BSkyB and Channel 4 all said they had no plans to use
the former England and Yorkshire batsman again following his
conviction for assaulting Margaret Moore, 46. She claimed that
she had been punched 20 times in the face, head and body at a
five-star hotel in Antibes in October 1996.
The Sun announced that it had terminated its contract with him
for a regular column. A newspaper spokesman said: "Our readers
would find repugnant the idea of us employing someone with a
conviction for violence against a woman."
Boycott's lucrative promotional and endorsement work is also in
jeopardy because of the conviction, which upheld a guilty verdict
originally imposed in January. The first conviction had been set
aside pending the retrial in Grasse three weeks ago at which
Boycott gave evidence. He was given a suspended three-month
prison sentence, fined £5,300 and ordered to pay Miss Moore one
franc (11p) in compensation. Boycott will also be responsible for
the £200,000 costs of assembling 13 defence witnesses.
BSkyB said it had no plans to use Boycott as part of its coverage
of the Ashes series between Australia and England this winter and
the cricket World Cup next summer. The BBC, which had used
Boycott in its coverage of the summer series between England and
South Africa after lifting a suspension pending the retrial,
said: "Geoffrey Boycott is not under contract to the BBC and
there are no plans to use him in the future."
Channel 4, which recently won the rights to broadcast English
Test cricket from the BBC, had been waiting for the outcome of
the French court hearing before deciding whether to open
negotiations with Boycott. No talks will now take place. Trans
World International, the London-based production company that
employed Boycott in Pakistan, will review his position next week.
On hearing the verdict in Pakistan, a despondent Boycott said:
"When I went to see the film Fatal Attraction I never believed it
could ever happen to me." Miss Moore, 46, said: "I don't think
I'll get my franc because he is a little tight-fisted. If I get a
cheque I'll frame it and if I don't I'll send him a writ."
more
Monsieur Boycott, you're no gentleman
By Susannah Herbert in Paris and David Graves
Jobless: BoycottGEOFFREY BOYCOTT was given a three month
suspended prison sentence and fined £5,300 yesterday after being
found guilty by a French court of assaulting his former
girlfriend in Antibes two years ago.
The former England and Yorkshire cricketer was also ordered to
pay a symbolic one franc (about 11p) compensation to Margaret
Moore, 46, for the severe bruising she suffered after the couple
quarrelled on Oct 2, 1996 at the five-star Hotel du Cap.
Boycott, a 58-year-old bachelor, had been originally convicted of
the offence in his absence last January, but the verdict had been
set aside pending a retrial three weeks ago in Grasse at which
the former cricketer gave evidence supported by a team of 13
defence witnesses.
In a withering judgment on Boycott, who had angrily accused
lawyers and court officials of speaking in French during the
retrial, Judge Dominique Haumant-Daumas said he had wrecked the
"perfect gentleman" image he had tried to portray with his
behaviour in court.
In a seven-page written judgment, she said: "In the court the
accused didn't hesitate rudely to interrupt Ms Moore's barrister,
thereby tarnishing the image of the perfect gentleman which he
brought his old friends and witnesses to testify to. His
arguments did not support the theory of an accidental fall that
the accused man said happened and the court decided that Ms Moore
was a victim on Oct 2, 1996, of purposeful blows."
Boycott's lawyer, Richard Knaggs, immediately filed an appeal. He
maintained the conviction was "beyond belief". He said: "We start
again. We have made an immediate appeal. The conviction goes
away. He is not guilty of anything. We always knew it was going
to be difficult with the French legal system but Boycott knows he
is innocent. Obviously we are disappointed with the decision. I
will say what I think of French justice after the appeal. We had
a game plan which didn't go as anticipated."
Boycott expressed his low opinion of Judge Haumant-Daumas from
Lahore, where he has been commentating on the cricket series
between Pakistan and Australia for Australian television. He
said: "Obviously I am very disappointed with the court's
decision. But in view of the way the trial was conducted, I
suppose it is not a total surprise. In my view, we clearly
disproved every allegation made by Margaret Moore, but obviously
not in the view of the French magistrate."
Boycott, who spent more than £200,000 on his defence, failed to
convince the judge that Miss Moore's two black eyes and swollen
right temple had been caused by an accidental fall rather than by
a series of blows to the face.
The couple had first met six years ago in the Bahamas. Romantic
meals and meetings at hotels around the world where the former
cricketer's work as a commentator took him, followed. But by the
autumn of 1996 their relationship was faltering.
In an attempt to maintain their affair, Miss Moore invited
Boycott on an all-expenses paid trip to the French Riviera. On
Oct 2 the couple lunched by the pool at their hotel. Despite the
convivial environment, the couple argued over Miss Moore's plans
for them to marry and move to Monaco.
Boycott, the man for whom the psychiatrist Anthony Clare revised
the phrase "no man is an island," refused to consider his lover's
proposal. Devoted to his mother, with whom he lived until he was
38, the batsman had always chosen commitment to his sport and
turned down an array of women offering him domestic stability and
long-term love. He was also still seeing long-term companion of
four decades, Anne Wyatt, whom he had met at a pensions office in
Barnsley when he was 18.
When Miss Moore pressed her demands for marriage the meal ended
abruptly as Boycott went to their room to pack his suitcase with
the intention of leaving. He maintained during the retrial that
Miss Moore burst through the bedroom door in a rage and
threatened to commit suicide by jumping from their third-floor
window.
After apparently having a change of heart she then started to
throw his belongings outside. During the subsequent confrontation
Miss Moore ended up with a severely bruised face. She claimed
that Boycott had deliberately punched her 20 times in the face,
head and body, while the former batsman claimed that Miss Moore
simply slipped and banged her head on the floor.
Boycott's defence strategy backfired as testimony from Boycott's
witnesses - including two Boycott girlfriends, two women injured
in accidental falls and several doctors who had never met Ms
Moore - dragged out the hearing for 10 hours.
The session was enlivened by Boycott's explosions of anger - he
told the magistrate, lawyers and prosecutor to "Shut up!" - and
by Judge Haumant-Daumas's unintentionally comic queries,
including "What size is a cricket ball?" and "Who is Shredded
Wheat?" Boycott also complained: "Everyone's talking, talking,
talking in French and I don't understand."
The case will now be referred to the Court of Appeal in
Aix-en-Provence, where it will eventually be tried by three
judges.
Boycott's current girlfriend, Rachel Swinglehurst, the mother of
his 10-year-old daughter Emma Jane, said at the courthouse after
the verdict: "He will not be depressed. He is realistic. He knows
he is innocent and he hopes the public know he is innocent too."
Miss Moore, a divorced mother-of-two, said: "I feel that justice
has been done. He has lost twice and I am very very pleased.
Tonight I am going to have a glass of champagne. I think he
should get some treatment and maybe he will be better. Maybe he
should see a psychiatrist."
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)