Beleaguered Humberside Chief Constable David Westwood was defiant last night despite the Home Secretary ordering his suspension over the Soham debacle.

David Blunkett demanded his removal from active duty after the inquiry into how killer Ian Huntley slipped through the net revealed "very serious failings" in his force.

Sir Michael Bichard's devastating report concluded Mr Westwood should take personal responsibility for errors that meant Huntley's murky past never emerged.

The report also revealed a "deeply shocking" catalogue of errors across all organisations that had contact with Huntley before he murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in August 2002.

Mr Blunkett said it was "difficult to disagree" with Sir Michael's conclusion on Mr Westwood and ordered Humberside Police Authority to suspend him.

However, in his first public words on the scathing report, Mr Westwood insisted he would stay until his police authority acted.

"Until they decide what their position will be, I remain chief constable," he said.

The Home Secretary's demands could ultimately lead to Mr Westwood's retirement or resignation.

It is the first time he has used powers granted under the 2002 Police Reform Act to intervene directly in the running of a police force. Mr Blunkett said: "The role of any chief constable has to be one in which the public have confidence.

"In the face of serious criticism, it is my responsibility as Home Secretary to question whether people in Humberside can continue to have that confidence."

Humberside Police Authority said it would be meeting later this week.

The chief constable of Cambridgeshire Police, which was also criticised in Sir Michael's report, suggested he might act differently if his force had been criticised so heavily.

Tom Lloyd said: "If he had said the errors were systematic and corporate, it would have made me consider my position very seriously."

Although the Bichard report cast its criticism very wide, the most severe attacks were reserved for Humberside Police.

It only emerged after his conviction that Huntley was at the centre of four alleged rapes and indecent assaults and four alleged incidents of underage sex while in Grimsby during the 1990s.

The Humberside force either deleted or failed to retain records of them, which meant his past was not spotted during the vetting of him to work as a caretaker at Soham Village College.

On the wider picture, Sir Michael said only Huntley was responsible for the deaths of Holly and Jessica.

But no organisation that had contact with Huntley was spared by Sir Michael.

He made 31 recommendations to improve intelligence sharing, police information systems and employment vetting nationwide.