Norman Bettison 'should consider his position' after Hillsborough report Sir Norman Bettison worked for South Yorkshire police before later becoming Merseyside police chief constable. Photograph: Paul Grover / Rex Features Pressure has intensified on the chief constable of West Yorkshire police, who the families of the Hillsborough victims accuse of playing a key role in wrongly blaming fans for the disaster, after the former home secretary Jack Straw said both he and his employers should be considering his position. Straw, who expressed regret that the review he commissioned into the disaster by Lord Justice Stuart-Smith in 1997 failed to uncover the truth, stopped short of calling for Sir Norman Bettison to depart. "It's not for me to say," Straw told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. I understand the concerns of the families. I think it is for his employers and for Sir Norman, between them. He's bound to be considering [his position] - it's inevitable. He can read the newspapers, and I would have hoped he would have been considering it for some time. I can see the point that the families are making. On the other hand, my dealings personally with Sir Norman suggested that he was a fine police officer. Straw added: "In terms simply of fairness it has to be a matter for his employers to consider in the light of all the facts. But certainly they should do that. As a South Yorkshire chief inspector and later superintendent, Bettison was a member of the internal review group or liaison unit on Hillsborough and, as such, the families say, he had a key role in presenting the police in the best light and blaming the fans for the disaster. The Labour MP Maria Eagle told parliament that the "liaison unit orchestrated what can only be described as a black propaganda campaign." On Wednesday, Trevor Hicks, former chair of the Hillsborough families support group, said Bettison should quit. Hicks said: "If he is anything of a man, he will stand down and scurry up a drainpipe somewhere." Bettison is one of the country's most experienced officers and responsible for overseeing the policing of domestic extremism. Richard Wells, whose tenure as chief constable of South Yorkshire police took in the last three years of Bettison's service with the force, up to 1993, said those involved in the coverup should face prosecution. He told Today: "I think it's absolutely essential. I don't know how practical it's going to be now, but I think probably the inquest, if that is re-ordered, may help to shed further light on the matter. The Hillsborough report gave more detail on Bettison's role in presenting the police's case after the 96 deaths. The report stated that the video presentation showed the buildup of fans at the turnstiles, estimated at 2.39pm as between 2,000 and 6,000 people. The meeting was informed that the crowd was "massively unco-operative." The report states that within weeks Tony Judge, publicity director for the police federation, published a two-page review of the meeting with Shersby under the headline: "Hillsborough - the police who dispute Taylor's verdict." The subheading referred to "the anger still felt by ordinary police men and women who consider the inquiry report has whitewashed the hooligan element among Liverpool followers." He defined his role in the Hillsborough investigation as running a "mail room" for West Midlands police, who were conducting an independent investigation.