THE Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester has been appointed as the new Chief Constable of Cheshire.

David Whatton takes over from Peter Fahy who left Cheshire to become Mr Whatton’s boss at GMP following the death of top cop Mike Todd on Snowdon in March.

Until Mr Fahy’s appointment Mr Whatton had been the Acting Chief Constable of Greater Manchester.

Mr Whatton said “I am delighted to have been appointed as Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary which has a long and proud tradition, based on serving the needs of the public.

“I will use my skills and previous experience to lead the force and I want the people of Cheshire, Halton and Warrington to feel proud of their police and will work with my officers and staff to deliver a police service that people have confidence in.”

Police authority chairman Peter Nurse was “extremely pleased” to announce the appointment of Mr Whatton following a rigorous selection process.

He said: “The calibre of applicants was high but we are confident that Mr Whatton is the right person to lead the Constabulary.

“The appointment of the Chief Constable is one of the most important things that the police authority does and we are confident that Mr Whatton’s experience, energy and ambition will enable him to further develop and improve policing.”

Cllr Nurse added: “The authority has asked the new Chief Constable to focus his attention on continuing to improve performance, particularly in neighbourhoods, which is the basis of policing in Cheshire.

“The new Chief Constable will have to consider tighter budgets and changes in local government arrangements early on so we wanted someone who would hit the ground running.”

Within Greater Manchester, Mr Whatton has led a number of high profile criminal and terrorist related investigations and is a member of the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters business area.

In his role as Deputy Chief Constable he was responsible for corporate development, corporate communications and finance.

Mr Whatton is married and has three children and when not at work he is usually involved in taking them to a sporting or musical event, or ‘moonlighting’ from work helping his children with their paper rounds.

Mr Whatton will take up his role on December 1, 2008