A Premier League legend horrifically had his eye gouged out by a gangster following a bar brawl, before tragically deciding to take his own life
A former Premier League star had his eye gouged out by a gangster before tragically taking his own life.
Jeroen Boere is remembered as a towering centre forward who played for West Ham between 1993 and 1995, and also had spells at Portsmouth, West Brom, Crystal Palace and Southend United. But to his grieving family, his rollercoaster life was much more than just that.
Boere was signed by Billy Bonds for £250,000 in 1993 after making a name for himself in his native Netherlands as a clinical striker. He led the line with Tony Cottee and scored six times as West Ham avoided relegation, having lost just once in 11 games at the end of the 1994/95 season.
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The Dutchman left England in 1998 to sign for Japanese side Omiya Ardija, but his life changed forever in May 1999. Boere and his wife Ann had been out for dinner in Roppongi and moved on to the popular Hideout bar when an argument broke out over the queue for the men’s toilet.
Two men reportedly lunged at Boere and punches were thrown before the brawl was broken up. However, as Boere and Ann went to leave, one of the men, Israeli drug smuggler Shimon Ben Hamo, was waiting by the door and offered his hand, seemingly wanting to apologise, and Boere reached out to shake it.
But Ann shockingly recalled what happened next in an emotional interview with the Daily Mail: “Shimon pulled him forward and stuck an ice pick in his eye. Then he stabbed him twice and ran. It was terrifying.”
Ann was told to put pressure on the wound by an off-duty nurse as she struggled to understand what had just happened. Boere asked her how his eye looked, to which she told a white lie: “I told him it was fine. But I could see his eye was split in half.”
Boere was rushed to hospital and surgeons phoned Ann for permission to remove his eye. At first she refused, but when she was told there was nothing left to save, she had to give in.
The striker was forced to remain on the ward for a month but word had spread that Ben Hamo had placed a bounty on their head. A Tokyo policeman attempted to put their mind at ease by brandishing his revolver, but it didn’t help.
Ben Hamo fled to Thailand as police closed in on him but he was found dead in a suitcase just weeks later in a Bangkok river. He had been shot three times in the head over a cocaine deal gone wrong. Despite his death, Ann is still fearful of travelling to the country now.
Boere attempted to put on a brave mask and told a Dutch magazine two years later: “I know damn well that I’m someone who tempts fate.”
They returned to Epping to be closer to Ann’s family and Boere found himself drawn to the local boozer, the Half Moon. One night while drinking there the owner offered to sell him a stake, which he snapped up.
But a bar brawl on New Year’s Eve in 2002 that Boere waded in on, left him with 20 stitches across his face after being smashed with a glass bottle. It proved to be the final straw and the couple moved to Marbella in 2003, where Boere was offered work at an estate agency.
Boere’s demons followed him again as his drinking became heavier and he got involved in the wrong crowd. The couple were set to make another fresh start with their two-year-old son Brandon in Mauritius, but the day never came. Ann woke on the morning of August 16, 2007, to find Boere dead in their flat. He had taken his own life.
A heartbroken Ann swept up Brandon and was able to call the police through trembling hands. She left the flat and never returned while her sister Michelle and friends flew out to pack up their home. Tragically, Michelle took her own life less than two years later, with her partner also taking his on the night of her funeral.
Boere also left an impact on his team-mates, include his Upton Park strike partner Tony Cottee. He remebered: “He was a fun lad. He liked a drink, like a lot of us back in the day. He had a confident aura about him – there was always that with the Dutch lads, very sure of themselves.
“As soon as he arrived he wasn’t shy with anything. The biggest compliment I can pay him is that he fitted into the dressing room really well.
“He’s a bit of a forgotten player, really. He was a proper old-school target man, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing alongside him. If the ball got up to him, he wasn’t afraid to head it. He wanted to get stuck in, he was aggressive.”
Brandon, now 21, visited the mural of his father with his elder brother Jerry outside the stadium of Dutch side Jeroen Boere. He said: “It was overwhelming. It was very cool seeing that, and knowing he’s remembered. He had his faults but he treated people right. I’m proud of him.”