Police chief announces retirement plans

David Crompton’s announcement came hours after he accepted the findings of the Drew review into child sex abuse.

In a short statement, a force spokesman said: “The Chief Constable’s contract runs until November. He will retire after 31 years in policing.”

Chief Con Crompton was appointed in January 2012 and joined from West Yorkshire Police, where he was an assistant chief constable.

South Yorkshire police commissioner Dr Alan Billings said: “He’s done 31 years and feels the time has come to retire. He was very clear when I saw him. 

“He feels he has done his bit. He’s a relatively young man and there are other things to do in life.

“It’s a very pressurised job, probably one of the most pressurised of jobs in the country so I don’t blame him for going.”

Chief Con Crompton’s tenure in the £195,000 job has seen many controversies come to the boil. 

In addition to the Rotherham CSE scandal, there has been new criticism over the Hillsborough disaster, the campaign calling for an inquiry into the miners’ strike battle of Orgreave and the force’s BBC deal when Sir Cliff Richard’s home was searched in 2014.

Dr Billings said: “We’ve had all the challenges other forces are coping with in relation to austerity and balancing the books, but we’ve also had not one but a number of high profile, very emotive issues that have had to be dealt with.

“Many would have buckled under the strain of just one of these but to carry on with the strain of all these things has been quite a challenge.

“All credit to the chief constable that he has remained strong throughout that time when a lot of people would have simply given up and walked away.”