Special police committee called to decide future of under-fire Norman Bettison (From Wirral Globe)

Special police committee called to decide future of under-fire Norman Bettison

9:12am Wednesday 24th October 2012 in News

A special committee of police authority members will meet again today to discuss the position of under-fire West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison.

The West Yorkshire authority has not said why its committee is convening in Wakefield - but the meeting comes the day after Mark Burns-Williamson - who chaired the authority until a fortnight ago - called for Sir Norman to step down immediately.

Mr Burns-Williamson called for the chief to go, following new claims that Sir Norman, a former Merseyside chief constable, had boasted about being asked to help "concoct" South Yorkshire Police's version of events following the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed 96 lives in 1989. Twelve of the dead were from Wirral.

These claims were raised by Merseyside MP and shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle in the Commons on Monday.

She quoted a letter from former civil servant John Barry that detailed comments he said Sir Norman made when they were both part-time students in Sheffield.

Later, Mr Barry repeated his claims in a TV interview saying the police officer told him: "I've been asked by senior officers to pull together the South Yorkshire Police evidence of the public inquiry and we're going to try and concoct a story that all the Liverpool fans were drunk and that we were afraid they were going to force down the gates so we decided to open them."

Mr Burns-Williamson, who resigned as police authority chairman earlier this month as he is now Labour's candidate to become West Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner, said: "In light of the new evidence given in Parliament yesterday I feel Sir Norman Bettison should stand down now in the best interests of West Yorkshire Police."

Sir Norman was a chief inspector with South Yorkshire Police at the time of the disaster.

He attended the match at Sheffield Wednesday's ground as a spectator but, after the disaster, he was involved in the subsequent force investigation.

The chief, who has always denied any wrongdoing, was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over claims that he gave misleading information in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster and that he tried to influence West Yorkshire Police Authority's decision-making process in relation to the referral.