Bettison was set to face misconduct charges

SIR Norman Bettison was facing potential action for gross misconduct which could have led to his suspension just hours after he decided to resign, the Yorkshire Post understands.

The region’s most senior police officer retired on Wednesday morning with immediate effect and without a pay-off, shortly before a special committee of West Yorkshire Police Authority was set to decide what action to take over his alleged misconduct following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report last month.

Police authority bosses referred him on two separate counts of alleged misconduct to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), and pressured him to announce he would retire next March.

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However it emerged yesterday the police authority has now accepted an assessment from the IPCC, which has ruled Sir Norman’s actions could potentially amount to gross misconduct.

It is understood allegations the former West Yorkshire Police chief tried to improperly influence members the police authority relate to a small clutch of senior figures.

Former police authority chair Mark Burns-Williamson, who is standing as a candidate to be West Yorkshire’s new crime commissioner, yesterday revealed he has been contacted by the IPCC over the investigation.

“They have been in touch, but I’m not going to make any further comment,” he told the Yorkshire Post.

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Mr Burns-Williamson announced on Tuesday that Sir Norman should step down, following Monday night’s Commons debate, when the Yorkshire-born Merseyside MP Maria Eagle quoted a “contemporaneous account” from a civil servant that Sir Norman had “boasted” of “a plot to fit up Liverpool fans”.

Sir Norman used his parting statement to insist he has “never blamed the fans for causing the tragedy”, and said he “refuted”
the allegations made in Parliament.

“Really the campaign should be about policing in West Yorkshire and the future direction for the force,” Mr Burns-Williamson said.

“The issue around Sir Norman Bettison was he was becoming the election issue rather than the policing of West Yorkshire and that cannot be right.

“We do need to get on and continue forward.”

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Sir Norman had previously defied repeated calls for him to quit after the panel revealed details of his role in South Yorkshire Police’s now-discredited response to the tragedy, in which 96 Liverpool fans were killed.

But pressure mounted after he released a widely-condemned statement claiming the fans had “made the police’s job harder than it needed to be”. His resignation marks the first departure of any senior public figure in the wake of the Hillsborough report.

A fund-raising single to help the Hillsborough families with legal costs is to compete in the race for the Christmas number one. Musicians including Sheffield’s Richard Hawley, Paul Heaton from Hull, and Sixties chart-topper Gerry Marsden are performing The Hollies’ hit He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.