A senior British diplomat has been ordered back home from his post in Central America following allegations about his behavior at a party.
The abrupt departure of John Yapp from his job as British High Commissioner in Belize comes just ten months into his three-year posting.
Rumors began circulating after a local TV channel reported that he was forced out because of “behavior not consistent with his status as a diplomat”.
The 57-year-old denied any wrongdoing but the Foreign Office ordered him to remain in Britain pending an investigation.
According to a Mail on Sunday source, Mr. Yapp, who is believed to have been divorced three times, was accused of “inappropriate” behavior towards two women at a charity event in April.
The first woman was identified by local sources as Kim Simplis, the live-in girlfriend of the country’s Prime Minister, Dean Barrow. She was not available for comment yesterday.
The second, businesswoman Lauren Reardon Smith, defended the diplomat.
She said that, far from making advances on Belizean women, Mr. Yapp was shocked by their forwardness – and she suggested that perhaps a woman “spurned” had made the allegations.
She added: “John was very outgoing when it came to social events but ran his office completely differently. He was very direct and demanding of people, which did not go down well with everyone at High Commission. John even took to taking a little bell into work, which he would ring if people were not meeting the deadlines he had set. I think he had either put too many backs up at the High Commission or that some woman he has spurned has made up some allegations about him. He was a pretty dashing guy and received a lot of attention while here in Belize. Maybe it was too much for some people.”
Mr. Yapp himself believes that the allegations were made against him “by one person” after an entirely different party – a private event in January.
At his flat in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, yesterday, he said he had been told not to comment until the investigation was complete.
But he added: “I would like to have the opportunity to put my side of the story, and as I see it the right side. I obviously upset someone. I think it is easy to do in my business. A famous British politician said about the Foreign Office, ‘they appease foreigners – sometimes at the cost of their own.’”
The initial news report about Mr. Yapp’s sudden exit was broadcast by Channel 5, a commercial station popular among Belize’s 290,000 population.
Chief Executive Amelia May (sic) said: “Several highly-placed sources told us that the High Commissioner had behaved improperly towards these two ladies. You will have to ask the ladies concerned what form the behaviour took.”
David Spires, Mr. Yapp’s second-in-command and now Acting High Commission, would only confirm that his former boss had left Belize.
The country is a former British Dependent Territory and the only Commonwealth country in Central America.
Asked to explain exactly why Mr. Yapp had gone, Mr. Spires said intriguingly: “My instructions from the Foreign Office are to tell you that Mr. Yapp left for operational reasons. It is not for me to comment on his private life.”
Inquiries by The Mail on Sunday suggest that the rumors center around a glittering charity dinner and dance – attended by the US Ambassador Robert Dieter and his wife Gwynneth – in April.
Mr. Yapp came along and was seated with several women from the Belize Lifeline Foundation for disadvantaged children.
Among them were Lifeline’s founder Miss Simplis and Mrs. Reardon Smith, a patron of the charity.
Mr. Barrow was also present. Mrs. Reardon Smith rose to Mr. Yapp’s defence yesterday when asked about the rumors of “improper behaviour”.
She told The Mail on Sunday: “I know that John has had his share of troubles in Belize but they have not stemmed from how he has behaved towards the island’s ladies. If anything, it has been the other way round. During a cocktail evening at the High Commission about a week into his posting he told me he had been shocked at just how forward the women were here. He said they all wanted to see his sleeping quarters and had no qualms about asking him out. A woman ran up to him when he was out somewhere with the US Ambassador and said, ‘You’re single, aren’t you? I can be your date for any engagements you may have.’ It didn’t totally surprise me, but John was absolutely gobsmacked.”
Mrs. Reardon Smith said that she had a clear memory of the night of the party as she had stuck to soft drinks.
“John was drinking bubbly like most of the people at the table. He was what I would call merry, but certainly not staggering around drunk. He also danced with every lady at the table, including me. My main memory of that night was that John was a really bad dancer.”
Mrs. Reardon Smith is a close friend of Miss Simplis. She said that if there had been any misbehavior by Mr. Yapp towards her friend she would have known.
She added: “I find it incredible that a man’s career can be damaged in this way on the basis of little more than misinformed gossip.”