HAMPSHIRE'S chief constable has blasted the lack of planning about the British police involvement in post-war Iraq.

Paul Kernaghan told MPs how police leaders had not been consulted about the role officers could play in the aftermath until well into the conflict.

Mr Kernaghan, who is the Association of Chief Police Officers' co-ordinator for international policing, said that the lack of consultation represented a failure in planning for the conflict and its aftermath.

He made the criticism while giving evidence to the Commons Defence Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the continuing role of British forces in Iraq.

Mr Kernaghan told MPs: "The first contact with Acpo was 72 hours after the statue (of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad) toppled.

"There was no liaison with the professional police expertise prior to that. I think that was wrong. That, in my opinion, is a failure of pre-planning. I would hope in the future never to be in that situation."

Mr Kernaghan welcomed the Foreign Office's initiative in establishing a cross-Whitehall task force to investigate how international policing operations can be organised more effectively.

As part of Britain's contribution to reconstructing post-war Iraq, a small team of volunteer British police officers has been deployed in Basra, southern Iraq, to work alongside the Royal Military Police in training Iraqi police officers.

From next month, Hampshire Deputy Chief Con Colin Smith will join them, spending his last year before retirement helping to rebuild the police service in the country.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Echo, Mr Smith, 53, is currently in Iraq on a fact-finding mission before taking up his secondment.