The fate of West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford hangs in the balance today - now he has had to apologise for misleading MPs
10:32, 14 Jan 2026
West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford has had to issue a second apology to MPs after discovering his officers had used AI to help decide a ban on fans of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv from a match against Aston Villa - after denying doing so.
He has been forced to admit he provided 'incorrect evidence' to the influential Home Affairs Committee. The apology letter comes on the day that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood prepares to make a statement to Parliament that could decide his future.
In his contrite letter he has admitted that Microsoft Co Pilot was used by officers gathering evidence about previous European ties involving Maccabi Tel Aviv. The tool had cited a match between the Israeli club and West Ham, which turned out to be fictitious. However, mention of the 'fake' game was included in a subsequent police report, included without any further checks.
When asked how the error had occurred, Mr Guildford had told MPs it was via a search on Google and that AI had not been used. He has now been forced to backtrack.
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In a letter to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Karen Bradley, released today, he admits the information "arose as result of a use of Microsoft Co Pilot".
His letter in full reads:
Dear Dame Karen Bradley, I write further to my appearance at the HAC on the 1st December 2025 and 6th January 2026 and in relation to the questions raised by the Committee concerning the provenance of the inclusion of the West Ham v Maccabi Tel Aviv match in the WMP report to the Birmingham City Council Safety Advisory Group.
In preparation for the force response to the HMICFRS inquiry into this matter, on Friday afternoon I became aware that the erroneous result concerning the West Ham v Maccabi Tel Aviv match arose as result of a use of Microsoft Co Pilot.
Both ACC (assistant chief constable Mike) O’Hara and I had, up until Friday afternoon, understood that the West Ham match had only been identified through the use of Google. This will be further explained in the additional material being provided to the Committee.
I would like to offer my profound apology to the Committee for this error, both on behalf of myself and that of ACC O’Hara.
I had understood and been advised that the match had been identified by way of a Google search in preparation for attending HAC.
My belief that this was the case was honestly held and there was no intention to mislead the Committee."
Mr Guildford was first asked by MPs about the West Ham game - which never existed - during an initial appearance before them on December 1.
At the time he told them: "Within my narrative, which I have compiled over the weekend, the one assertion in relation to West Ham is completely wrong.
"I am told that is a result of some social media scraping that was done, and that it is wrong. That was one element in a document that was eight or nine pages long, but we stand by the key tenets in the document."
He was then asked by Paul Kohler MP: "Hold on, so you did an AI search, got something about West Ham and just whacked it into the..."
Mr Guildford replied: "No, not at all. We do a very comprehensive assessment."
In his second appearance on January 6, Mr Guildford again denied that AI had been used. "There was a definite note that we have got to the bottom of in terms of the West Ham game. The summation in the House, it was a question that was asked in the House, was that West Midlands Police may have used AI on this particular occasion. We do not use AI.
"On the West Ham side of things and how we gained that information, in producing the report, one of the officers would usually go to (use) a system which football officers use all over the country, that has intelligence reports of previous games.
"They did not find any relevant information within the searches that they made for that. They basically Googled when the last time was. That is how the information came to be."
Chair Karen Bradley asked: "Was it the AI function on Google?" Mr Guildford replied: "I am being really candid here. I am told that they just did a Google search on that because they could not find it in the normal system."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is to make a statement to the House of Commons later today after receiving a report from HM Inspectors who reviewed West Midlands Police's handling of the decision to ban Israeli fans from Birmingham for a match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The decision has triggered an almighty row amid claims that the decision was politically influenced and potentially antisemitic. The police maintain it was a vital measure to protect public safety and prevent potential mass disorder.
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The football match that subsequently occured without away fans, on November 6, was policed by around 700 officers with several protests outside Villa Park. It passed off without injury, with 11 people arrested.