Former Chief Constable Jon Boutcher led Kenova between 2016 and 2023.
At the time of Kenova's launch, he was also Chief Constable of Bedfordshire, a force he joined in 2014 until he stood down from that position in 2019.
He was made Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in November 2023, at which point Sir Iain Livingstone took control of Kenova.
While at Bedfordshire, Mr Boutcher oversaw the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit and the Eastern Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit; units responsible for tackling serious and organised crime and terrorism across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
He was also responsible for Joint Protective Services which comprised collaborated units including Major Crime, Dogs, Firearms and Roads Policing covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.
He was previously national policing lead for Technical Surveillance Units (TSU), for the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), for Undercover Policing.
He has 35 years’ police service, with the majority spent as a detective with the Metropolitan Police. He also worked on the Regional and National Crime Squad, targeting serious and organised crime groups with links to international criminal networks; he was the case officer responsible for the UK’s largest cocaine seizure of that time, this investigation led to new legislation regarding the use of covert police tactics.
He was part of the Flying Squad in London, investigating robberies, developing intelligence, gathering evidence and leading armed operations.
Key investigations include:
In November 2003, he was seconded to the Anti-Terrorist Branch at New Scotland Yard as the Senior Investigating Officer for numerous national security operations: He led an investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan by a renowned war lord (Sarwar 'Faryadi' Zardad). This led to life imprisonment for the Afghan Commander for atrocities of rape and torture against civilians.
Mr Boutcher was the 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 USA. The group 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. Barot is considered to be the most significant Al Qaeda subject to have been detained in the UK.
He led the ‘manhunt’ which identified the 21/7 failed terrorist plotters. This was one of the most challenging episodes in British policing, the police operation successfully identified, located and arrested the suspects and those that assisted them. Mr Boutcher also led the investigative response to the Haymarket car bomb and subsequent terrorist attack at Glasgow airport.
Mr Boutcher has held the position of the National Coordinator for Pursue under the UK Contest strategy. This involved managing the national police network in England and Wales for Counter Terrorism. He has worked within the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism in the Home Office acting as an advisor on policing issues specifically those related to national security.
He has a Master's Degree from Cambridge University in Criminology and Executive Police Management writing his thesis ‘Understanding Cybercrime and the Cybercriminal’.
