West Midlands Police may face second hearing and warned about misleading parliament

The chair also requested a copy of the email summarising the Chief Inspector's meeting with Dutch police; a summary of any communication between the force and Maccabi Tel Aviv over the fixture, including confirmation they had not been informed the Ultras were not attending; and a summary of any communication WMP had with Uefa regarding the fixture.

At WMP’s first appearance at the committee earlier this month, Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara suggested that members of the Jewish community had backed the ban on Maccabi fans, a claim the force have since rolled back on.

Bradley urged WMP to “clarify the remarks made by Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara that Jewish community representatives objected to the presence of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, something which we now understand to be untrue”.

She added: “Misleading Parliament, intentionally or otherwise, is a serious matter and we would be grateful if you would correct the record and explain how this mistake occurred.”

During the first evidence session, Guildford admitted that WMP’s intelligence report used to justify the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans contained a reference to a football fixture that never happened between Maccabi and West Ham United.

He also revealed that claims that 5,000 police officers were required to police Maccabi’s fixture with Dutch side Ajax in Amsterdam last year – which were disputed by official Dutch reports and the Mayor of Amsterdam – were based on an assumption by WMP.

WMP’s earlier testimony was derided in parliament on Monday.

Conservative MP Nick Timothy told MPs: “The police repeated claims – denied by the Dutch – that the fans were ‘militaristic’, threw people in the river and targeted Muslim civilians.

“They even said that the Dutch police had lied under political pressure from their own mayor. We are asked to believe that the Dutch police lied to their own people, the media, their justice and security inspectorate, their mayor, their government and even their King, but told the truth once in a Zoom call with West Midlands police that was never even minuted.”

Reacting to the letter, Timothy said in a post on X: “The police ‘intelligence’ used to ban Israelis from Villa Park fell apart. So did the police evidence to the Home Affairs Committee. The Committee plans to recall the Chief Constable - an unprecedented move. If he can't justify his actions, he must go.”

WMP are already under mounting pressure over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their side’s fixture with Aston Villa in Birmingham last month.

On Monday, policing minister Sarah Jones declined to say she had confidence in senior officers at WMP.

The force is also facing calls for an independent probe into their actions – including from Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson, former Conservative attorney general Sir Michael Ellis KC and the government’s former independent adviser on political violence and disruption, Lord Walney.

Last month, the JC was the first outlet to reveal that claims of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans hooliganism were wildly exaggerated to justify their ban.

This newspaper obtained the official “Statement of Facts” (Feitenrelaas), compiled by Amsterdam Police Chief Peter Holla and Chief Prosecutor René de Beukelaer and presented to the Amsterdam municipality, which said that ahead of the fixture, authorities in the Netherlands had noted that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans “do not have a violent reputation”.

It also found that it was the Israeli fans who were the target of “groups that are looking for a confrontation with Maccabi supporters” and, of the 59 arrests that were made, just 10 were Israeli and the remainder Dutch.