Controversy
The Police Authority shot to the national headlines in mid 2004 when it refused to sack Chief Constable David Westwood despite instructions from the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett. The Home Secretary eventually obtained a court order suspending Westwood. The Authority had come under pressure to sack Westwood due to the Soham Inquiry blaming in part failings in Humberside Police to properly inform the authorities of Grimsby- born Ian Huntley, who was known to Humberside Police and local social services after there had been reports of nine sexual offences that Huntley had been suspected of, and also an alleged burglary. In only one of the sex offence investigations was Huntley charged (with rape) and remanded in custody, but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence, and his burglary case was left on file. Huntley was not convicted of any crime (his only actual conviction was for a minor motoring offence in 1993), and Humberside Police did not adequately inform the authorities in Cambridgeshire about Huntley when he moved to Soham to work as a school caretaker. He was found guilty of murdering two 10 year-old girls (Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman) in 2003.
It returned to the headlines in 2005 when Colin Inglis, its chairman at the time of the crisis appeared in court charged with indecent assault. Mr Inglis was cleared of all allegations in July 2006.
Read more about this topic: Humberside Police
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