Nick Ephgrave

Nicholas Bevan Ephgrave is a senior British police officer. He is the Director of the Serious Fraud Office. He was previously Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service. He was senior investigating officer on the re-investigation of Damilola Taylor's murder.

Early life and education Ephgrave was born in Surrey, England. His first career was as a physicist in the National Health Service.

Policing career He first became an officer in the Metropolitan Police Service, rising to Commander of Lambeth Borough before becoming Chief Constable of Surrey Police (2016–2018). He then returned to the Metropolitan Police as Assistant Commissioner for Met Operations. In June 2016, he received the Queen's Police Medal. He also headed the National Police Chiefs' Council's Coordination Committee on Criminal Justice and was due to leave the Metropolitan Police to take up a new temporary post with the Council later in 2022.

On 8 December 2024, Ephgrave raised concerns about a significant "brain drain" of whistleblowers leaving the country owing to the absence of financial incentives. This situation has reportedly severely impacted the Serious Fraud Office's ability to combat corporate fraud, as many whistleblowers with critical information on economic crimes are opting to provide their intelligence to jurisdictions such as the United States, where they can receive monetary rewards for their disclosures.

Ephgrave has advocated for the establishment of a similar reward scheme in the UK that would compensate whistleblowers for information leading to successful convictions. He has emphasised that the current lack of incentives represents a substantial missed opportunity for tackling financial misconduct. Ephgrave has pointed out that if this situation pertained to issues such as terrorism or child abuse, there would be widespread outrage; thus, he argues that a proactive approach is necessary to enhance the UK's capacity to address serious fraud and corruption effectively.

Honours