Pressure on police chief in Soham case

The head of the police force blamed for a series of mistakes that allowed Ian Huntley, the killer of two Soham schoolgirls, to obtain a job as a school caretaker despite his history of sexual offending was under growing pressure to resign yesterday.

David Westwood, the Chief Constable of Humberside, has defended his force's decision to delete intelligence on Ian Huntley, arguing that he was only following official guidelines.

But David Smith, the assistant Information Commissioner, said the decision "defied common sense".