Snooker champion Graeme Dott stripped of Hall of Fame place after child sex abuse conviction

Dott, 49, was found guilty on Monday of sexually abusing two primary school age children. World Snooker removed him from its Hall of Fame with immediate effect.

Dott expelled from snooker after Glasgow High Court guilty verdict

Former World Snooker Champion Graeme Dott has been removed from the World Snooker Hall of Fame following his conviction for sexually abusing two primary school age children, The Independent reports.

Dott, 49, was found guilty on Monday of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour at the High Court in Glasgow. The Scottish player won the World Snooker Championship in 2006 and also reached the Crucible final in 2004, where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan, and in 2010, when he was beaten by Australia's Neil Robertson.

"Following his conviction yesterday (August 24 2026) at the High Court in Glasgow, WST has taken the decision to remove Graeme Dott from the World Snooker Tour Hall of Fame with immediate effect," World Snooker confirmed in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) had already acted on Monday, announcing it had permanently revoked Dott's membership with immediate effect following an emergency board meeting at which the decision was taken unanimously.

A five-day trial heard that Dott subjected a girl and a boy to multiple incidents of abuse. The girl was targeted between 1993 and 1996; the boy between 2006 and 2010.

One victim, a woman now in her 40s, told the court Dott had abused her on multiple separate occasions while she was a child. She said the abuse began with Dott "caressing" her bottom over her clothing while giving her a piggy back. She also described an occasion on which Dott suggested playing a "guessing game" where she had to guess what he was doing. She told the court she lay down, he exposed himself to her and then began touching her with different parts of his body, including his penis. Dott told her not to tell anyone he was sexually abusing her, she said.

The second victim, a man now in his late 20s, said he was abused by Dott on multiple occasions. He told the court the snooker player touched him inappropriately, kissed him and performed sexual acts on him. Much of the abuse took place in a shower, he said, where Dott would enter either partly or completely undressed.

"He would… come into the shower and put soap on my body and wash me in the shower," the man told the court. "While he was washing me he would touch me in inappropriate places."

He said that, looking back, Dott was "clearly getting sexual gratification from it" and was "pleasuring himself" while this was taking place.

Source: The Independent