Pressure grows on police chief to resign

The chief constable whose force destroyed records that would have alerted detectives to Ian Huntley's history of rape and under-age sex attacks was today under mounting pressure to resign.

David Westwood appears increasingly isolated amid anger at the excuses he offered.

Huntley was given the allclear by Humberside police to work as a caretaker at Soham village school despite the force having investigated eight separate claims of rapes and sex attacks by him on young girls, mostly unproved through lack of evidence.

Following Huntley's conviction, Mr Westwood claimed his officers were obliged by the Data Protection Act to delete reports on him which would have alerted Cambridgeshire police to his past.

But the watchdog which oversees data protection laws said his claims were " mystifying", while the Home Office said forces were allowed to keep important information on suspects such as Huntley.

Home Secretary David Blunkett is said to be furious at the way Mr Westwood has blamed everyone but himself.

Senor Whitehall officials said they feared Mr Westwood, who walked out of an interview with Jeremy Paxman when pressed to defend Humberside's policy, would have to resign.

Mr Westwood has also found little support among his colleagues. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said forces had a duty to hold on to intelligence.

Even former Humberside detectives have questioned Mr Westwood's excuses. One said: "It is nonsense to suggest we had to wipe the records every month. I know that officers were able to track suspects in sex cases back years, even if they had not been convicted of anything."