FORMER Royal butler Paul Burrell has called in the lawyers because of an impersonator who is dragging his name through the mud in US internet chatrooms.

The I'm A Celebrity...Get Met Out Of Here runner-up has been left fuming by the hoaxer who is sending out poison e-mails to internet well-wishers and signing off as 'Paul Burrell'.

Burrell, 47, who lives in High Street, Farndon, fears the impersonator may be criticising the Royal Family and has called in the lawyers to hunt down his double.

Burrell, currently at his other home in Florida, said: 'It has come to my attention that somebody, somewhere is doing an extremely poor and cheap imitation of me, entering chat-rooms on the web and causing great offence.'

Burrell, who has his own website, has become a household name in the States following the release of his controversial book A Royal Duty and has appeared on the US chat show circuit.