The Rotherham lad who became a police knight

Norman George Bettison was born in Rotherham in 1956, and left his local comprehensive school at the age of 16 to become a police cadet.

He was made a police constable proper with South Yorkshire Police in 1975, and spent the next 18 years as an officer in the force.

By April 1989, he had risen to the rank of Chief Inspector.

He was not working on the day of the Hillsborough disaster, but attended the match as a spectator.

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In the aftermath, he formed part of a small team of senior officers who led the force’s own, now-discredited inquiry into what happened.

After moving to West Yorkshire as assistant chief five years later, he caused huge controversy when appointed chief of Merseyside Police in 1998 despite the protests of the Hillsborough families.

He retired in 2005 and was knighted for services to policing the following year – but then became Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police in 2007.

He is Vice-President of the Association of Chief Police Officers.