West Midlands Police Chief resigns following Maccabi Tel Aviv ban

West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford has resigned after admitting to using incorrect evidence to justify banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa on 6 November.

Announcing his retirement on 16 January, Guildford said that “the political and media frenzy around myself and my position has become detrimental to all the great work undertaken by my officers and staff in serving communities across the West Midlands”.

“I have carefully considered my position and concluded that retirement is in the best interests of the organisation, myself and my family.”

Guildford’s resignation comes after a Home Affairs Committee Hearing on 6 January, where Guildford and other West Midlands Police representatives were questioned about their decision to ban the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their Europa league fixture at Villa Park.

During this hearing, it was determined that the meetings the West Midlands Police had with the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) regarding the ban “[needed] a clearer rationale”. It was also suggested that there was an “absence of intelligence” during the SAG meeting on 7 October, where the decision to ban Israeli fans was originally made.

When questioned, Guildford asserted that “I do not believe that there was political influence on that decision [to ban Tel Aviv fans]”.

There were multiple inaccuracies within a West Midlands Police report that the SAG used to make the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. This included a reference to a non-existent match between Tel Aviv and West Ham on the 9 November

The use of AI in sourcing the evidence was also discussed at the hearing. Chief Constable Guildford claimed “we don’t use AI” and attributed missteps to an errant Google search. However, a letter from Guildford to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 12 January admitted that the “erroneous” information on the Tel Aviv-West Ham game was the result of the use of Microsoft Copilot.

Since then, an inspection, published on 14 January, has found there were multiple inaccuracies within a West Midlands Police report that the SAG used to make the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. This included a reference to a non-existent match between Tel Aviv and West Ham on the 9 November.

This report, led by the Chief Inspector of the His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary concluded that “confirmation bias” had resulted in the West Midland Police’s decision. This conclusion then led the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to announce she had “lost confidence” in the West Midlands Chief Constable.