Who’s Sir Christopher Meyer? Ex-UK ambassador to the US attacked at Victoria station
Boy in court over brutal attack
SIR Christopher Meyer is a former British ambassador to the US who served between 1997 and 2003.
Also a former ambassador to Germany, Sir Christopher was brutally beaten in a suspected botched robbery at a London train station.
Who is Sir Christopher Meyer?
Sir Christopher Meyer, 74, is a former British ambassador to Germany (1997) and the US (1997-2003).
He was born on February 22, 1944, to mum Eve and father Reginald Henery Rome Meyer, an RAF flight lieutenant shot down over the Greek island of Ikaria 13 days earlier.
He was educated at Lancing College in Sussex before studying in Paris, Cambridge and Bologna, Italy, Christopher began his career at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1966.
He has worked in embassies across the world before a spell as a speechwriter to three successive Foreign Secretaries: James Callaghan, Anthony Crosland and David (now Lord) Owen.
Christopher was then sent off to Brussels, followed by Moscow, before becoming press secretary to Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe in 1988.
Five years in Washington as minister-commercial and deputy head of mission then followed.
Christopher then returned to London in 1994 to become Prime Minister John Major's press secretary and government spokesman.
He was posted briefly to Germany as ambassador in 1997, but was transferred in the same year to Washington as Britain's ambassador to the United States. He retired in 2003.
When was he attacked in London?
Sir Christopher suffered horrific injuries to his left eye, nose and lip during a brutal assault on July 11, 2018.
Doctors had to operate on his hand and mouth.
A 17-year-old is said to have lashed out at the former ambassador after he pushed past him and called him a "b*****d" at London's Victoria station.
The boy then lost his temper and pushed him from behind, a court heard.
Sir Christopher was forced to spend six days in hospital and undergo multiple operations.
In a statement about the effect of the attack on him, Sir Christopher said it had been "deeply distressing" and that the injuries "may well leave permanent disfigurement".
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Was the attacker jailed?
The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded guilty to grevious bodily harm.
On February 1, 2019, he was given a 12-month referral order and ordered to pay £500 in compensation.
The judge said that the boy's previous good character and remorse meant he would not give him a custodial sentence.
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