President of World Conker Championships defends King Conker amid cheating claims after he was found with metal nut at The Shuckburgh Arms pub in Southwick near Oundle

The president of an international event hit by a cheating scandal has explained what caused the con-kerfuffle.

David Jakins, 82, was victorious in The World Conker Championships in Southwick on Sunday (October 13) - his first win after competing since 1977.

But his success was plunged into controversy after he was accused of swapping his real conker for a metal one.

President and chief umpire of the event, Richard Howard, spotted David showing his steel conker to a crowd of children ahead of the competition.

Concerned about how this may look, Richard volunteered to keep the conker in his pocket while the competition took place.

He said: “King Conker is like a figurehead.

“For a bit of fun a couple of years ago he made a steel conker to show the children.

“He had it with him on Sunday.

“We had a word and I said it doesn’t look good to have it on you so he gave it to me to keep while the conker championships took place.

“I didn’t want anybody to accuse him of cheating.”

He claims he only handed back the counterfeit conker once the competition was over, but afterwards David showed a journalist for a national newspaper who fabricated the story.

The fiasco has since hit national headlines and is subject to an investigation by The World Conker Championships committee.

Richard said: “It is wonderful publicity but I don’t like to see David being called a cheat.

“He is the last person who would cheat.”

As the competition’s top judge, David was responsible for drilling some of the 2,000 chestnuts used - which led to further cheating concerns.

But Richard said these were kept at his home and therefore could not have been tampered with.