Police chief: No conspiracy over Israeli fans ban

DUTCH ADVICE 'KEY TO VILLA MOVE'

- SOPHIE ROBINSON

LOCAL pressure meant Dutch police underestimated the threat of violence from Israeli football fans, a senior police officer has told MPs as he faced questions about why West Midlands Police relied on intelligence that officers in Amsterdam have since disputed.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford, of West Midlands Police, told the Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday that Dutch officers “probably underestimated the level of threat and risk” posed ahead of a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv last year.

Mr Guildford was summoned before MPs to explain claims in the Sunday Times that his force relied on a document from Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which claimed fans from the Israeli club had thrown members of the public in Amsterdam into a river and that up to 600 of them targeted Muslim communities.

The SAG report classified a fixture between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Aston Villa last month as high risk, with the British police force pointing to alleged violent clashes and hate crime offences as reasons for it not to allow fans from the Israeli club to attend.