Craig Lewis Guildford was born in 1973 or January 1974. He obtained a degree in geography at the
University of Derby, then joined
Cheshire Constabulary as a police constable in 1994, having been a
special constable there since 1992, while also a student. Guildford spent time on
CID in Cheshire before being seconded to the
National Crime Squad in
Manchester in 2000. Guildford eventually reached the rank of
Superintendent in Cheshire Constabulary. He was made assistant chief constable at
West Yorkshire Police in October 2012, and deputy chief constable with
Gwent Police in April 2014. and immediately became a
captain in the
Provost Branch.
West Midlands Police On 25 July 2022,
Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster confirmed that Guildford would replace
David Thompson as the Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police. Guildford formally took the role on 5 December 2022. He also served as the
National Police Chiefs' Council lead officer for professional standards and ethics, and complaints and misconduct. In November 2024, he retired as Chief Constable of
West Midlands Police for one month in order to protect his pension, which would otherwise have fallen in value after 30 years' unbroken service, before taking up the post again. Scott Green served as Acting Chief Constable in the interim.
Maccabi Tel Aviv incident and retirement On 14 January 2026, the
Home Secretary,
Shabana Mahmood, declared in the
House of Commons that she had no confidence in Guildford, following a select committee review of his force's advice to ban away fans from
Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. game against Aston Villa in
Birmingham on 6 November 2025. An intelligence report compiled by West Midlands Police for the local safety advisory group contained errors, including the misrepresentation of information received from Dutch police about a previous match in
Amsterdam. The report also mentioned a non-existent match between
Maccabi Tel Aviv and
West Ham. When appearing before the House of Commons'
Home Affairs Select Committee, Guildford denied suggestions that
AI had been used in writing the report and said that the fictitious match had appeared in a
Google search. On 14 January 2026, he apologised to the Home Affairs Select Committee for having misled them, admitting that
Microsoft Copilot, an AI tool, had generated the fictitious West Ham match. Subsequently, Mahmood said that she would have sacked Guildford if she had had the power to do so. On 16 January 2026, Foster announced Guilford's retirement "with immediate effect". Deputy Chief Constable Scott Green was appointed as Guildford's successor in an acting capacity. The Shadow Home Secretary,
Chris Philp, criticized the decision to allow Guildford to retire and called for him to face misconduct proceedings. The following Monday, Foster referred Guildford to the
Independent Office for Police Conduct. ==Honours and awards==