Blunkett: Defiant

David Blunkett has ordered Home Office lawyers to lodge legal papers with the High Court to force the suspension of Humberside police chief David Westwood.

A Home Office spokesman said the papers were being delivered to the court on Monday afternoon.

The home secretary is continuing in his bid to get the Humberside chief constable removed from duty.

"In the light of the continuing failure of the Humberside Police Authority to comply under the 2002 Police Reform Act with my requirement to suspend their chief constable David Westwood, I am therefore this evening lodging papers with the High Court asking them to enforce the law and grant a hearing," Blunkett said in a statement.

The legal move comes despite an intervention from the father of one of the girls killed by Soham murderer Ian Huntley, who said the suspension of David Westwood would be wrong.

Father Kevin Wells said it would be a "travesty" if the chief constable was forced to quit.

However, the home secretary seems ready to press ahead despite the criticism.

Following the failure of the Humberside Police Authority to act on his demand to suspend its chief constable, Blunkett said he had followed the appropriate rules and would not "engage in ad hoc talks or informal discussions".

"In the light of the fact that the Humberside Police Authority are continuing not to accede to the requirements of the law, I am left with no choice but now to take the necessary legal steps to seek a hearing," said the home secretary's statement.

"I remain of the view that Chief Constable Westwood should not have operational control of the force while Humberside Police Authority and I consider the appropriate way to respond to Sir Michael Bichard's findings."

And Blunkett added that having received the police authority's letter asking him to reconsider his decision, he had decided it contained "no new information".