William Frederick Hughes (born 11 August 1950) was Director General of Britain's

Serious Organised Crime Agency The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom which existed from 1 April 2006 until 7 October 2013. SOCA was a national law enforcement agency with Home Office sponsorship ...

until his retirement on 31 August 2010, when he was succeeded by his deputy Trevor Pearce. He was formerly Director General of the

National Crime Squad The National Crime Squad (NCS) was a British police organisation which dealt with national and transnational organised and major crimes. Formed in April 1998 after the amalgamation of six former Regional Crime Squads, it merged with parts of H ...

, until its merger with SOCA on 1 April 2006. Hughes was, until October 2012, International Director a
BlueLight Global Solutions
He then took up a role advising

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

on financial crime governance alongside former Permanent Secretary for Tax at

HMRC , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = HM Revenue & Customs.svg , logocaption = , badge = , badgecaption = , flag = , flagcaption = , image_size = , co ...

Dave Hartnett David Anthony Hartnett Order of the Bath, CB (born ) is a former British Civil Service, British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary for Tax at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) until his retirement in July 2012. Following his retireme ...

. Hughes was educated at

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first c ...

, where he received his degree in mechanical engineering in 1973. He began his career in the police force with the

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

in 1975, rising to become Assistant Chief Constable in the

West Yorkshire Police West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth largest territorial police force in England and Wales by number of officers. History West Yor ...

, then Deputy Chief Constable with the

Hertfordshire Constabulary Hertfordshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Hertfordshire in England. Its headquarters is in Welwyn Garden City. The current chief constable is Charlie Hall. As of March 2019, the force consi ...

. He joined the National Crime Squad in 2000. He was the UK Head of Delegation at European Police Chiefs Task Force and Chairman of the G8 Lyon Group on law enforcement. Hughes was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Footnotes

External links

British 'FBI' chief in profile
from

bbc.co.uk BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

1950 births Living people Alumni of Aston University British police chiefs Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal British police chief officers {{UK-crime-bio-stub