Andy Ward from Merseyside, who retired from the police service earlier this year, has been tasked with chairing the review.

The appointment of Ward has been agreed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, John Whittingdale.

It comes after The Sunday Times reported that Bonar claimed his "clients" included an England cricketer, British Tour de France cyclists, a British boxing champion, tennis players and martial arts competitors, as well as footballers from Premier League clubs Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester City.

UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead confirmed they had been aware of allegations against Bonar after a sportsperson - reported to be cyclist Dan Stevens - approached them two years ago but had not been able to act upon them because the doctor was not affiliated to any particular sport.

The organisation had considered informing the General Medical Council (GMC), which oversees medical practitioners in Britain, but decided the evidence they had was insufficient for such a referral, Sapstead added.

Sapstead, appointed to the role in February of last year, has since faced calls to resign due to the way UKAD dealt with the information they were given.

In October 2014 Stevens, banned for failing to provide a sample and who was seeking to arrange a plea-bargain, supplied UKAD with "handwritten prescriptions" he claimed had been issued by Bonar.

Whittingdale claimed he was "shocked and deeply concerned" by the reports and demanded to know why UKAD had not acted upon the information when they had first received it.

Bonar has denied the allegations as “false and very misleading”.

UKAD chairman David Kenworthy described Ward as a “strong choice” and admitted the organisation should be held accountable.

“Andy Ward is a strong choice to carry out the review into UK Anti-Doping’s handling of intelligence in relation to Dr Mark Bonar," he said.

"He is independent of sport so will bring a fresh and uninfluenced perspective, whilst his extensive experience of intelligence handling will be critical to the review.

“Andy’s role will be to examine how the information supplied by the sportsperson was handled and whether proper procedures were followed.

“Andy will also be asked to make any recommendations to improve processes in the future.

“As a publicly funded body, it is correct that UKAD be held to account for any actions it takes and the team is very supportive of, and will fully cooperate with, the review process.”