A FORMER Suffolk police chief last night confirmed he has put himself in the frame to land Scotland Yard's top job.

Craig Robinson

A FORMER Suffolk police chief last night confirmed he has put himself in the frame to land Scotland Yard's top job.

Sir Paul Scott Lee has put his name forward as a contender to replace Sir Ian Blair as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Sir Paul - who is due to leave his job as Chief Constable at West Midlands Police in April - joined Suffolk Constabulary in 1994 at Deputy Chief Constable.

In October 1998 he replaced Tony Coe as Chief Constable but left in August 2002 to take up his role in the West Midlands - the biggest force outside of London.

One of his legacies was the instigation of the Suffolk First programme, a framework to make the county the safest in England by 2005.

Other names also in the frame to succeed Sir Ian include Acting Met Chief Sir Paul Stephenson, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, Merseyside's top policeman Bernard-Hogan-Howe, Sir Hugh Orde - who holds Ulster's top job - and chief Constable of Kent, Mike Fuller, who could become Britain's first black Met Chief.

There are also two women among the confirmed candidates - Julie Spence, head of Cambridgeshire Police, and former Dorset Chief Constable Jane Stichbury.