What was your highlight of 2024?
On reflection, there have been lots of highlights in my first year as director of the SFO.
Starting with my staff, I’m proud to have brought in more than 100 new colleagues this year, backfilling vacancies and boosting our numbers to better deliver our cases at pace. Investing in our people is essential and we are building on successful initiatives such as our bespoke Trainee Investigator Programme, creating a pipeline for talent to enter the organisation. For long-serving staff we’ve launched “long service awards” for those who have devoted 10, 15 or even 20 or more years of their career to the SFO. The commitment and loyalty of our people, together with the passion they have for our work, is clear.
Launching our new five-year strategy in April, we have described a compelling future state in which we will progress our investigations faster and reignited calls for change to the legal system to allow us to incentivise corporate whistleblowers to come forward in exchange for a share of any financial penalty the case produces.
What was the hardest part of being a leader in 2024?
We’ve faced continuing court delays this year. We have six cases currently expected to go to trial, including against former executives from Glencore and Patisserie Valerie, as well as an £88m car-leasing fraud.
"SFO cases often need three or four months in court with one judge, so it’s especially difficult for our cases to find a slot. That’s frustrating for teams, but even more challenging for victims and those waiting for justice to be done"
SFO cases often need three or four months in court with one judge, so it’s especially difficult for our cases to find a slot, even with our excellent specialist court at Southwark. That’s frustrating for teams that may have to wait months or even years before putting a case to a jury, but even more challenging for victims and those waiting for justice to be done. I know this is a well understood issue affecting many and I am grateful for the enormous amount of work taking place across the criminal justice system to address this and related issues.
What are the main challenges facing your organisation in the coming year – and how are you planning to meet them?
The SFO’s cases are in a league of their own in terms of average length and complexity. Our largest current case has around 48 million documents. When we seize an average 64GB phone, it contains around 100 times as much information as a desktop computer from the 1990s, when the current disclosure legislation came into being. Recognising this, the SFO is leading the thinking to find a solution. We have contributed to the ongoing disclosure review and will be expanding an innovative trial of machine learning technology which identifies and prioritises the most relevant material, providing significant efficiency gains, saving time and money for the taxpayer.
What was the best Christmas present you’ve ever given or received? And the worst?
Socks, for both answers.