National Coordinator for Operation Hydrant
Richard Fewkes is the national coordinator for Operation Hydrant. He is responsible for ensuring the delivery of the national strategy to coordinate all investigations into non-recent child abuse involving persons of public prominence or that which took place in an institutional setting. He is also leading work with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on behalf of the National Police Chiefs Council. He took up this post in July 2014 after serving 28 years with South Yorkshire Police, thirteen of which have been in the rank of Detective Superintendent.
As a senior detective he has managed local crime, covert operations, major crime, kidnap, hostage negotiation, disaster victim identification and public protection portfolios. In addition he has previously delivered a number of national projects, including the Professionalising the Investigation Process, the Street Crime Initiative, the Prolific and Priority Offenders Project, Conditional Cautioning and Restorative Justice. Richard is an experienced Senior Investigating Officer, having led the investigation of over 30 murder investigations over a number of years and many other complex and major crime inquiries. He was one of the first officers nationally to be accredited as a PIP 4 SIO .
Richard retired from South Yorkshire Police as a detective superintendent in September 2016 and now continues in the role of national coordinator as a civilian member of staff.