{"id":379585,"date":"2026-01-20T03:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/379585\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T03:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:52:11","slug":"chief-constable-referred-to-police-watchdog-over-decision-to-ban-israeli-fans-from-football-match-at-villa-park-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/379585\/","title":{"rendered":"Chief constable referred to police watchdog over decision to ban Israeli fans from football match at Villa Park | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former chief constable of West Midlands Police (WMP) will be investigated over a decision to ban Israeli fans from a Europa League match in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Craig Guildford announced his retirement from the post on Friday, blaming the “political and media frenzy” surrounding him in the wake of the decision to prevent Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the match against Aston Villa<\/a> at Villa Park in November.<\/p>\n

Now the former chief constable will be investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC<\/a>) after “new information” came to light, the watchdog said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Image:
\n A close up of a banner being held by pro-Israel supporters outside Villa Park before the game. Pic: PA<\/p>\n

The local Safety Advisory Group, which made the decision, did so citing safety concerns raised by WMP.<\/p>\n

A review later found the ban was partly justified by a non-existent game between the Israeli<\/a> side and West Ham – an “AI hallucination” produced by Microsoft Copilot.<\/p>\n

Mr Guildford previously denied AI<\/a> was used when quizzed by MPs, but later sent a letter apologising for unintentionally misleading them.<\/p>\n

The force was also criticised for another piece of intelligence regarding the behaviour of Maccabi fans attending a match with Ajax in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Police and fans outside the ground before the game. Pic: PA<\/p>\n

WMP’s assessment claimed that supporters of the visiting team intentionally targeted Muslim communities in Amsterdam – a point contradicted by Dutch police.<\/p>\n

Further claims that Maccabi fans threw “innocent members of the public into the river” were also not endorsed by the Dutch.<\/p>\n

Read more:
AI evidence and misleading MPs: This goes beyond football<\/a>
Police chief apologises for ‘erroneous’ Israeli fan ban evidence<\/a><\/p>\n

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood would go so far as to announce she had no confidence in Mr Guildford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the chief constable announced he would retire on Friday, local police commissioner Simon Foster said he had “acted with honour and in the best interests” of the force.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Craig Guildford. Pic: PA<\/p>\n

But today he and the force said they would refer the matter to the IOPC, with the commissioner calling it “unacceptable” and damaging to public confidence.<\/p>\n

Scott Green, Acting Chief Constable of WMP, offered a “full and sincere apology” on behalf of the force for its “damning” failings.<\/p>\n

He further accepted that WMP had been “too defensive” and had damaged its relationship with the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

Rachel Watson, IOPC director general, said: “In the last 24 hours, we’ve received new information from West Midlands Police around their initial assessment of any potential misconduct.<\/p>\n

“There are many unanswered questions, and it’s right for accountability and public confidence for us to independently investigate.<\/p>\n

“We will now undertake a full assessment of the evidence, and gather more where necessary, to establish if any of the officers may have breached police professional standards in relation to duties and responsibilities.<\/p>\n

“Our investigation will examine the briefings and intelligence report provided to the Safety Advisory Group, which underpinned the decision to ban supporters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former chief constable of West Midlands Police (WMP) will be investigated over a decision to ban Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-379585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}