HENRY Day - the Norfolk MBE convicted of a string of child sex offences - could be stripped of his honour, government officials said last night.A spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which oversees the honours systems, said he could not comment on individual cases but added a process was automatically triggered if a person was convicted of a criminal offence.

HENRY Day - the Norfolk MBE convicted of a string of child sex offences - could be stripped of his honour, government officials said last night.

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which oversees the honours systems, said he could not comment on individual cases but added a process was automatically triggered if a person was convicted of a criminal offence.

The process, which could take up to a year, would begin with a forfeiture committee reviewing whether Day had brought the honours system into disrepute. The committee's findings would then be referred to the prime minister and later the Queen.

Day, also known as Harry, 70, of Wood View, North Walsham, was found guilty of 21 counts of sexual abuse against young boys on Friday after jurors heard that he subjected members of the Norfolk-based Young Citizens Guild to systematic attacks. He was jailed for 13 years and his barrister said he would almost certainly die behind bars.

Norfolk police has launched a hotline to allow anyone who has concerns relating to Day or the guild to come forward and speak to officers. They have not ruled out further prosecutions.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Barham said: “This was the grossest possible breach of trust. You cynically used the organisation as a means of committing sexual offences against boys entrusted to your care.”

Day would not be the first Norfolk MBE to be stripped of his honour. In December 2006 disgraced fraudster Michael Eke, who was made an MBE, saw his honour “cancelled and annulled” and was told that “his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order”.

The decision came after Norwich Crown Court heard how Eke had obtained �66,000 using “sophisticated deceptions” from the Air Training Corp. He had already voluntarily returned his honour but the Cabinet Office wanted to formalise he decision.

Day was made an MBE in 2004 for services to young people.