South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable's suspension backed by panel

The decision to suspend the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police has won the backing of the region's Police and Crime Panel (PCP).

David Crompton was suspended by Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings after the Hillsborough inquests due to "eroding trust and confidence" in the force.

The PCP said it had concluded Dr Billings "should call upon" Mr Crompton to either resign or retire.

Dr Billings will consider the response before making a final decision.

In a statement released by the PCP, which met on Friday to consider the matter, panel chair Councillor Talib Hussain said: "I can confirm that the recommendation of the Police and Crime Panel is that the police and crime commissioner should call upon the chief constable to resign or retire."

Mr Crompton announced in March, just weeks before he was suspended, he intended to retire in November after four years in the post and 31 years in policing.

A report published by the PCP, external said Mr Crompton had made "a catastrophic error of judgement" in attempting to explain the force's legal approach to the Hillsborough inquests after the jury concluded police conduct contributed to or caused the disaster.

Having apologised in 2012 for the force's efforts to deflect responsibility for the disaster on to Liverpool supporters he was criticised by Andy Burnham MP for seemingly going back on the apology during the hearing.

In a statement published after the inquest he said the force had not tried to defend its failures but "these failures had to be put into the context of other contributory factors".

The PCP said his comments had led to "the inevitable risk that it would be perceived as rowing back on the previous apology" and suggested the force had "continued to put the protection of its own reputation above the welfare of the families".

The panel concluded that given the "damage" his words had done to the force and the "continuing damage" which would have been caused to that reputation if Mr Crompton were to stay in post, Dr Billings "was justified in his decision to suspend the chief constable".