Quinten Hann - Departure From Snooker

Departure From Snooker

Hann is known in snooker for his "bad boy" image, and in 2002 he was tried in the UK for allegedly raping a woman while both were intoxicated, but was acquitted.

Hann was cleared of further sex attacks on two women in 2005. The women accused Hann of behaving like a "crazed animal" and said that they thought they were going to die. One of them claimed that he repeatedly struck her, an accusation that Hann strongly denied explaining that his mother had taught him to never raise a hand to a woman. Ultimately the case turned on the credibility of his accuser, which was undermined when it was admitted she had lied consistently under oath throughout the trial. The day after his acquittal The Sun alleged that Hann had agreed to lose his opening match against Ken Doherty at the China Open in return for large amounts of money. The story was held back so it would not prejudice the outcome of Hann's trial. A hearing at the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association was convened after the WPBSA panel was shown transcripts of video and audio footage of the meetings which took place between Hann and the undercover Sun journalists in March and April 2005.

On 14 February 2006 he resigned from the WPBSA, just a couple of days before he was due to attend the hearing. Hann did not attend and was found guilty in absentia. The newspaper did not go through with any agreement, but by agreeing to lose the game Hann was in breach of rule 2.8, which states "a member shall not directly or indirectly solicit, attempt to solicit or accept any payment or any form of remuneration of benefit in exchange for influencing the outcome of any game of snooker or billiards." Hann was banned from snooker until 2014 and also fined £10,000.