TAXPAYER-FUNDED legal insurance of up to £1m will be available to Norman Bettison if he faces action for his role in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster.
Mr Bettison, who receives a salary of £225,000 as West Yorkshire’s Chief Constable, is under investigation by the IPCC for his role after the 1989 disaster that claimed 96 lives.
Merseyside taxpayers will pick up the annual £88,000 cost of his pension when he retires in March because he was chief constable of Merseyside between 1998 and 2004 when he retired from the police.
It has now emerged he will be able to use legal insurance provided by the Chief Police Officers Staff Association (CPOSA) to pay for his costs in relation to any disciplinary action he may face.
The Yorkshire Post reported how the insurance, which is funded by contributions from police authorities nationwide, may also help with defence funding for any alleged criminal offences and any involvement Sir Norman has at fresh inquests.
Police authorities are paying £2,197 for each of CPOSA’s 350 members who are made up of assistant chief constables upwards.
The revelation comes as the petition by Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson, calling on Mr Bettison to be officially stripped of his knighthood, has been extended by a month.
It is to give people more time to express their views about the issue, particularly in light of a debate being held on the issue in the House of Commons on Monday, October 22.
Mr Anderson wrote to Sir Bob Kerslake, Chair of the Honours Forfeiture Committee, last month calling for the honours for Sir Irvine Patnick and Sir Norman Bettison to be revoked.
So far, more than 20,000 people have signed the petitions – with around 11,100 calling for the removal of Sir Irvine Patnick’s Knighthood and more than 9,100 calling for Mr Bettison to be stripped of his Knighthood and Queen’s Police Medal.
