A UK police chief has blamed the use of AI for erroneous evidence which partially led to the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a football match in Birmingham.
West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford has apologised to MPs for giving them incorrect information.
Mr Guildford told the Commons Home Affairs Committee in a letter that his force had cited a previous match between the Israeli club and West Ham United that never happened, after using AI to search social media.
The fictitious match formed part of the force's justification for banning the Israeli fans from attending a game against Aston Villa in November.
Mr Guildford said that until last Friday afternoon he believed the mistake was caused by using Google, when in fact it was the result of Microsoft Co Pilot.
He offered his “profound apology” for the error, but added that “there was no intention to mislead the committee”.
Pressure has been mounting on Mr Guildford as scrutiny over the decision has increased.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is due to make a statement to MPs after receiving a report on Wednesday on the decision to bar Maccabi fans.
A Home Office representative said: “The Home Secretary has this morning received the Chief Inspectorate’s findings into the recommendation by West Midlands Police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match against Aston Villa.
“She will carefully consider the letter and will make a statement in the House of Commons in response later today.”
West Midlands police and crime commissioner Simon Foster, who holds the power to remove Mr Guildford from his post, has said he will formally review evidence on decision-making around the ban.
He added: “I have also requested a report to my public accountability and governance board on Tuesday January 27, 2026, at which I will hold the chief constable and West Midlands Police to account.
“I will continue to keep this matter under review, in accordance with due process and the law at all times.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch have called for Mr Guildford to be sacked.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also suggested the chief constable “needs to go”, while Israeli representatives said they were “deeply concerned” by emerging evidence which needed “full accountability”.
Fans were barred from travelling to the game at Villa Park by the local Safety Advisory Group (Sag), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force.
The decision by the group – which is made up of representatives from the local council, police and other authorities – sparked political outrage, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Since then, doubts have grown over the intelligence used by police, with disputes over the accuracy of information.
On Tuesday, Mr Guildford insisted the ban was not politically influenced.
The committee heard West Midlands Police thought “vigilante groups” from the local community posed a threat to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans when it decided to ban them from the game.
The force had information from as early as September 5 last year that the Israeli visitors would be targeted with “violence”, MPs were told.
Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara said: “We got a lot of information intelligence to suggest that people were going to actively seek out Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and would seek violence towards them.
“So we had … a bubbling position locally. We had people purporting to be Maccabi fans online who were goading local community members and saying, ‘this is what you’re going to get’.
“This was all forming part of the heat of the situation, so based on that, the commanders tried to make the right decision.”
The fixture had been classified high risk by the force, which cited alleged violent clashes and hate crime offences during the 2024 Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.
However, Dutch police have disputed the accuracy of this information.
Mr Guildford defended claims put to him by committee chairwoman Dame Karen Bradley that the force was “scraping” to find a reason to justify the ban.
A statement from the Israeli embassy to the UK said the newly disclosed assessments show the primary threat to public safety was not from the fans themselves but from “organised radical Islamist groups who were actively preparing and arming themselves with the intention of harming Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters”.
It said the portrayal of Israeli fans as violent was a “gross mischaracterisation” and instead placed blame on the community that was facing the threat.
“The decision to obscure these assessments, and to allow a misleading narrative to take hold, raises serious questions,” the statement said.
“These acts by law enforcement institutions undermine real security risks, and even encourages a climate in which hostility towards Israeli and Jewish communities can be normalised under the rule of law. These matters require full accountability.”
