Craig Guildford stepping down after repeated public calls for him to be pushed

The boss of Britain’s second-largest police force today announced he was “retiring.”

The news about the future of Craig Guildford, chief constable of West Midlands Police, was revealed by Simon Foster, West Midlands police and crime commissioner.

Foster was the only person with the authority to sack Guildford – a point made by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in the House of Commons earlier this week when she said she had lost confidence in the WMP chief.

Her statement to the House came after a probe into how WMP reached a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from an Aston Villa match last year.

It emerged WMP officers had used AI to discover a fictitious Maccabi Tel Aviv game – one that never took place – against West Ham at which fans had behaved badly.

Officers then used this false evidence to support a decision to ban Israeli supporters from travelling to Birmingham for the game, the House was told.

At a press conference in Birmingham today, Foster said Guildford was retiring, avoiding what would have been a tricky process to dismiss him had it been required.

Guildford’s decision to step down comes after a week of calls for him to be sacked, including from Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch.

Keith Rowe, of the National Jewish Assembly, reacted with anger, calling for anyone tainted by this scandal, including Foster, to be removed.

“Allowing the chief constable to retire rather than face disciplinary proceedings does nothing to address the issues,” he told WM News.

“He will start a conformable retirement, others will be left in post and the rot in West Midlands Police will continue.

“The citizens of the West Midlands deserve much better. The Police and Crime Commissioner should be removed and a full reconstruction of the management started. Anyone tainted by the recent corrupt practices should be removed.”