The police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall Alison Hernandez says she is “very saddened” to still be waiting on the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland before she can make “a next step decision” on suspended chief constable Will Kerr.

Mr Kerr has been suspended on full salary of almost £200,000 since July 2023 after an investigation was opened into “serious allegations of sexual offences” in Northern Ireland, which he denies.

Ms Hernandez said it was “a really tricky situation”.

Speaking to the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel on Friday, she said the case had moved on some months ago from the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland (PONI) to the Public Prosecution Service but a decision on whether or not Mr Kerr was being charged, which was expected in October, had still not been made.

“I am very saddened with the time it has taken to do this process, it is disappointing,” she saud.

“This is a really tricky situation. This is a person who has held high esteem of office, done 27 years of policing experience across the whole country and globally and who has been put under investigation.

“I need to wait to find out whether or not there is going to be a charge and ultimately I will have more of an obvious decision to make once we have that information.

“I’m not going to start going down a legal route that may end up with a judicial review and waste more taxpayers money trying to fight a claim.

“I can’t speed it up. I have written to ministers, to MPs and got legal advice, I can’t do anymore. I have to wait for the Public Prosecution Service and then I will be in a position to make some form of next step decision.

“They have told me it will be by the end of this calendar year.”

Former deputy chief constable Jim Colwell was made acting chief constable in Mr Kerr’s absence but Ms Hernandez has admitted at previous police and crime panel meetings that the long-term suspension of the chief had impacted force performance.

Earlier this year she appointed a deputy police and crime commissioner Mark Kingscote to help her tackle challenges in performance and on the streets as she said she did not have the time to tackle both.

The force has been moved out of special measures for its call handling and management of violent and sexual offenders It still, however, needs to improve how it records crime.