Cheshire Police has come under fire for denying there was a security lapse when protesters disrupted the Duke of Westminster's wedding and for highlighting the individuals were 'ladies in their senior years'.

The matter was being discussed at a meeting of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel, following a pre-submitted question about Just Stop Oil protesters setting off a fire extinguisher containing orange powder as the wedding party left Chester Cathedral last month.

In a written response, Cheshire's Deputy Chief Constable Chris Armitt said: "It should be noted the individuals (ladies in their senior years) involved in this activity were in the general crowd of thousands, present on the streets of Chester, so how this could possibly be described as a lapse of security is beyond me."

Yasmin Somani, vice-chair of the panel, said at Friday's meeting: "I'm a bit perturbed really, by the fact these ladies are in their senior years and we know they're white, that that means that that somehow correlates to it not being a security lapse…

"By calling out those demographics, what demographics would lend themselves to a security lapse?

"Would it have to be a young Asian man with a backpack? Why are we making that distinction?"

Panel chair Evan Morris agreed, saying he was gobsmacked by the police response, as an airborne substance had been expelled into the crowd and among people such as the Duke of Westminster and Prince of Wales.

He added: "Those ladies, allegedly, had been in the crowd with a shopping trolley since 7am in the morning.

"I thought, if it had been someone of a different persuasion with a backpack, I could see them swiftly being moved off, and had a closer look at."

Police and crime commissioner Dan Price, who was attending the first meeting of the panel since he had been elected, said: "Those are obviously not my words, and I wouldn't want to say them and be quoted as them being my words.

"I think you probably sense some frustration from the constabulary there. That's what I sense."

He said there was disappointment it had happened but the force's plans had been heavily scrutinized by other police experts.

"My own feelings on this is that, with an event like this, we either have it open and accessible to the public, and with that, we have the risk of something like this happening, or we go down a completely different approach, which would be a sort of cordoning of the whole area," said Mr Price.

He said then people would have to have passes in and out.

The commissioner said there had been a lot of publicity around the Duke wanting to make it a celebration for Chester and the community.

He added: "What I was pleased to see is that, when this happened, there was an intervention made within seconds."

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