Andrew Christopher Hayman CBE QPM (born 1959) is a retired British police officer and author of '' The Terrorist Hunters''. Hayman held the rank of Chief Constable of

Norfolk Constabulary Norfolk Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Norfolk in East Anglia, England. The force serves a population of 908,000 in a mostly rural area of , including of coastline and 16 rivers, including the Broads N ...

and Assistant Commissioner for

Specialist Operations The Specialist Operations directorate is a unit of the Metropolitan Police in London, England. It is responsible for providing specialist policing capabilities, including national security and counter-terrorism operations. As of May 2025, the Spe ...

at London's Metropolitan Police, the highest-ranking officer responsible for

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

in the United Kingdom. Hayman was directly responsible for the investigation into the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, also referred to as 7/7, were a series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamist terrorists that targeted commuters travelling on Transport in London, London's public transport during the ...

. He has also spoken for the

Association of Chief Police Officers The Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (ACPO) was a not-for-profit private limited company that for many years led the development of policing practices in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Established ...

, first on drugs policy, and later on counter-terrorism.

Early career and personal life

Born in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in 1959, Hayman is married and has two children. He joined

Essex Police Essex Police is a territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Essex, in the East of England. Essex Police is responsible for a population of over 1.8 million people and an area of . The chief constable is Ben-Julian Harring ...

from school in 1978, rising to the rank of superintendent in 1995 and subsequently to

chief superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the United Kingdom, British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief S ...

in 1997. In 1998, Hayman transferred to the Metropolitan Police and gained the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

, taking charge of the force's drugs unit, before moving on to head the Directorate of Professional Standards and to serve as an aide to the

deputy commissioner A deputy commissioner is a police, income tax or administrative official in many countries. The rank is commonplace in police forces of Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, usually ranking below the Commissioner. Australia In all Aust ...

. From 1998 to 2005, Hayman was also the spokesman on drugs for the

(ACPO). In 2002, Hayman was appointed Chief Constable of

, a role in which he established the county's Major Investigation Unit, responsible for providing a quick response to serious crime in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. While chief constable, Hayman was awarded the

Queen's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth countries, most of which now have their own hono ...

in the 2004

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

Specialist Operations

Rejoining the Met in February 2005, Hayman left Norfolk to become the Metropolitan Police Service's Assistant Commissioner for

, a role which placed him in overall charge of counter-terrorism operations conducted by the now defunct

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

and the Anti-Terrorist Branch. Six months after taking up the post as head of Specialist Operations, Hayman was the overall head of the investigation into the

, the largest criminal investigation in British history. In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours he 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for his handling of the investigation. Hayman resigned from the Service on 4 December 2007, following allegations about expense claims and alleged improper conduct with a female member of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and a female sergeant. Hayman, along with

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Sir Ian Blair, was criticised by the press and the Independent Police Complaints Commission over the mistaken shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Underground station on 22 July 2005.

''News of the World'' phone hacking affair

Hayman was in charge of the initial inquiry into phone hacking by the ''News of the World''. In April 2010 ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported that he "subsequently left the police to work for

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...

as a columnist."''

''
Police 'ignored News of the World phone hacking evidence'
4 April 2010 He has contributed to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', owned by NI, and there has "written in defence of the police investigation and maintained there were 'perhaps a handful' of hacking victims." Hayman appeared before the

Home Affairs Select Committee The Home Affairs Select Committee is a departmental select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Remit The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select ...

on 12 July 2011 when he confirmed that he had received hospitality from people he was investigating in relation to a criminal offence, although he regarded this as normal and operational matters were not discussed. During this hearing, Select Committee member

Lorraine Fullbrook Lorraine Fullbrook, Baroness Fullbrook (born 28 July 1959) is a British Conservative former MP for South Ribble, first elected in 2010. Educated at Glasgow Caledonian University, Mrs Fullbrook was formerly the Conservative Leader of Hart Counc ...

said that the public saw him as a "dodgy geezer" for the financial and sexual allegations surrounding his resignation from the police, for his "cosying up to the executives of News International" and for "the disaster" of his enquiry into the phone hacking scandal.

References

External links

Article archive
at

Journalisted The Media Standards Trust is a British media think tank formed in 2006. It carries out research on issues in the media sector. It also advocates for press freedom as well as industry quality, transparency and accountability. It is a registered cha ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayman, Andy Living people British Chief Constables Assistant Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People associated with the News International phone hacking scandal English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal People from Essex 1959 births

Early career and personal life

Specialist Operations

''News of the World'' phone hacking affair

See also

References

External links