Jon Boutcher

Boutcher was born on 10 October 1965 in Derby, Derbyshire, England. He was educated at Spondon School in Derby.^[4] He later studied applied criminology and police management at Wolfson College, Cambridge, graduating with a Master of Studies (MSt) degree in 2015.^[4][5] His thesis was titled "Understanding Cybercrime and the Cybercriminal".^[6]

Boutcher was a Metropolitan Police Cadet in 1983, before becoming a police constable in the Metropolitan Police Service in 1984. He became a detective, reaching the rank of detective chief superintendent.^[4] In 2003, he joined the Anti-Terrorist Branch.^[7] He was a senior commander in the Metropolitan Police operation that saw Jean Charles de Menezes shot dead in London; he had been misidentified as a suspect in the 21 July 2005 London attempted bombings.^[8]

In 2011, he reached chief officer rank, serving as assistant chief constable of Hertfordshire Constabulary and leader of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire Joint Protective Services Command.^[4] In 2014, he moved to Bedfordshire Police as deputy chief constable.^[4] He then served as chief constable of the force from 2015 until April 2019.^[9]

From 2019 to 2023, he led Operation Kenova, a series of historical investigations into murders which occurred during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.^[10][11] Kenova published its interim report outlining its findings on 8 March 2024.^[12] He was succeeded as head of the operation by Iain Livingstone in 2023.^[13]

He served as interim chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) from 12 October 2023 whilst the recruitment process was ongoing to appoint someone permanently.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} On 7 November 2023, it was announced that the appointment had been made permanent by the Northern Ireland Policing Board.^[19] He receives a salary of £220,000.^[7]

Boutcher was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in the 2015 Birthday Honours.^[20]