A police chief under growing pressure over his role in the aftermath of the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster has resigned, his police authority said Wednesday.
Sir Norman Bettison quit his post as the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police ahead of a meeting in scheduled to consider his role in the investigation into the tragedy.
“I do so, not because of any allegations about the past, but because I share the view that this has become a distraction to policing in West Yorkshire now and in the future,” Bettison said in a statement.
Bettison, a chief inspector with South Yorkshire Police at the time of the disaster in which 96 football fans died, had been due to retire in March.
Bettison is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) following the Hillsborough Independent Panel report published in September which revealed that police officers’ statements about what happened had been altered.
Police chief quits amid Hillsborough probe
