UKAD appoints retired senior police officer for review

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has appointed a retired assistant police chief constable to lead an independent review into the body's handling of intelligence in relation to Dr Mark Bonar.

The Sunday Times claimed at the weekend that London-based Bonar was secretly filmed by an undercover athlete stating that footballers, cyclists and tennis players were among sportspeople he had treated with banned substances.

The newspaper acknowledged it had no independent evidence of the medic providing such treatment.

Bonar is said to have stressed he administered treatment to the athletes for medical reasons and not to enhance performance, while it has not been suggested the substances were illegal.

Posts on a Twitter page purported to be Bonar's personal account accused the Sunday Times piece of being "false" and "very misleading".

The British government called for an urgent inquiry into the actions of UKAD, who commenced an investigation into the doctor in 2014 but found "there was nothing to indicate that Dr Bonar was governed by a sport", and Andy Ward - a former senior figure at Merseyside Police - has been approved by secretary of state for culture, media and sport John Whittingdale as the man to lead the review.

"Andy Ward is a strong choice to carry out the review into UK Anti-Doping’s handling of intelligence in relation to Dr Mark Bonar," said UKAD chair David Kenworthy. "He is independent of sport so will bring a fresh and uninfluenced perspective, whilst his extensive experience of intelligence handling will be critical to the review.

"Andy’s role will be to examine how the information supplied by the sportsperson was handled and whether proper procedures were followed. Andy will also be asked to make any recommendations to improve processes in the future.

"As a publicly funded body, it is correct that UKAD be held to account for any actions it takes and the team is very supportive of, and will fully cooperate with, the review process."