BRITAIN: The British Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, yesterday threatened Humberside Police Authority with legal action if it did not comply with his order to suspend its chief constable after a damning report on the Soham murders.
Mr Blunkett had demanded on Tuesday that Mr David Westwood be suspended after his force was criticised in the report.
The report said Mr Westwood's force had failed to uncover accusations of rape and sexual abuse of children when asked to vet the girls' killer, Ian Huntley, for a job at a school.
But Mr Westwood has refused to step down, saying he wants to see through the report's recommendations, and yesterday the authority voted by 12 to five to ask Mr Blunkett to reconsider. However, the Home Secretary said in a statement that he had considered the request but would not change his mind.
"In the absence of any new arguments, I have decided to maintain my decision and I now call upon the authority to comply with the law and suspend Mr Westwood," he said.
"If they do not, I will be taking the necessary legal steps . . . at the beginning of next week to require them to do so." He added that he had not asked Humberside police to sack Mr Westwood, only to suspend him.
"Mr Westwood will have every opportunity to make representations in the course of this process," he said.