Despite a criminal finding of fact having been made, Sir Alan Reid, Secretary of the Royal Victorian Order, refused to recommend the forfeiture of Chesshyre's appointment to the order, stating that Chesshyre had not technically been convicted and that he had been given an absolute discharge. Following an appeal by the victim's MP, which led to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, seeking to have the original decision reviewed by an independent committee, Reid's decision was overturned and Chesshyre's award was forfeited with effect from 15 May 2018. Unusually, however, the forfeiture was not notified in the "London Gazette", normally the standard procedure in such cases. Chesshyre still holds almost all the many other honours conferred upon him throughout his career, despite calls for these, too, to be revoked. The case avoided wide public knowledge, in part because Chesshyre's name was misspelled in court documents throughout his legal process, until March 2019, when it was mentioned at a public hearing of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which led in turn to an article in "The Observer" newspaper. According to journalist Jamie Doward, "When approached by the "Observer", the various societies of which he is a member confirmed that they would not be dissociating themselves from him."