A SENIOR detective with West Yorkshire Police was charged with a drink-driving offence after being arrested in Knaresborough.

Detective Chief Superintendent David Knopwood, head of West Yorkshire Police’s protective services, has been suspended from duty after being arrested on Monday.

He was held by North Yorkshire Police in Knaresborough at 11.30pm. Since November, Mr Knopwood, 48, has led the protective services department,w which was formed when the crime division was merged with the homicide and major inquiry team.

Mr Knopwood wrote the force’s Operation Newgreen report into officers’ relationship with paedophile celebrity Jimmy Savile, which was criticised by victims when it was published a year ago.

The department is now being led on an interim basis by Acting Chief Dept Superintendent Mark Ridley.

Knopwood will appear before magistrates later this month charged with failing to provide a specimen of breath. West Yorkshire police’s head of professional standards, Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Brennan, said: “An off-duty West Yorkshire police officer was arrested and subsequently charged with a drink-driving offence by North Yorkshire Police on Monday. The officer, who is in his 40s and based in Wakefield, has subsequently been suspended from duty.”