New PSNI chief constable has decades of policing experience

Jon Boutcher becomes the sixth chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) after decades of experience in policing across Great Britain and heading an investigation into one of the murkiest aspects of the Troubles.

He spent his early career working as a detective for the Metropolitan Police, and led Scotland Yard’s “Flying Squad” tackling armed robbery and other serious crime.

Among the highlights of his career are serving as a senior investigating officer for Operation Rhyme, an investigation that identified and traced a group of British men who planned mass casualty attacks in Washington, New York and Newark in the US – and also planned chemical and biological and improvised bomb attacks in the UK.

The plotters’ leader, Dhiren Barot, was sentenced to 80 years’ imprisonment and the remaining members of the cell were convicted for conspiracy to murder.

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Mr Boutcher is described in police biographies as having significant experience in operational counter-terrorism, and served as the UK’s national policing lead for technical surveillance, covert policing and undercover policing – and held the post of national co-ordinator for Pursue under the UK’s Contest strategy for countering terrorism.

In 2014, Mr Boutcher was appointed as chief constable of Bedfordshire Police, a job he held until 2019.

It was during that tenure that Mr Boutcher headed up Operation Kenova, an independent investigation into the activities of Stakeknife, the Army’s top agent in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

[ Jon Boutcher appointed next chief constable of PSNI ]

Mr Boutcher unsuccessfully applied to become the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police last year following the resignation of Cressida Dick.

He also lost out on the job of PSNI chief constable to Simon Byrne in 2019.

In October, Mr Boutcher stepped in as interim chief constable after Mr Byrne resigned following a string of controversies.

During that brief tenure, he earned the praise of the body that represents rank-and-file police officers, the Police Federation, after quickly ruling out an appeal against a critical judgment surrounding the treatment of two officers.

However, federation chair Liam Kelly cautioned that Mr Boutcher still faces an “uphill task of tackling plummeting officer morale, a dire budgetary situation, a freeze on recruitment and declining officer numbers”.