Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background prior to joining BPI? 

I worked for the City of London Police for 32 years, most recently managing the Funded Police Teams prior to joining the BPI. This involved leading a number of national police teams funded by the private sector, including ones investigating bank fraud, insurance fraud, overseas bribery and corruption, and intellectual property (I had managed PIPCU since 2015). By nature of their work, all of these teams operated at an international level, and partnered with international law enforcement, Governments and the private sector on a regular basis. My career in the police was varied - as well as investigating economic crime, I have held roles in managing serious and organised crime, counter terrorism investigations and intelligence, internal affairs, and was seconded to the Home Office for two years.

What have your first few weeks in the role looked like? 

It has largely involved meeting lots of people from within the BPI and across the music industry, as well as learning about the technology and the wide range of challenges facing the industry. I have found it very interesting, and have been really impressed with the enthusiasm to improve the industry shown by everyone I have met. It is infectious.

What are the Content Protection Unit team's biggest priorities for 2025? 

I am very keen to work more closely with members, trade bodies and other partners across the industry. Building partnerships was a key part of my role when I was in the police, and I am really keen to continue this with the BPI. As for the challenges faced across the industry, I think the development of AI and other technology is an area we must stay focused on, as well as recognising the significant harm still caused by counterfeiting vinyl, CDs and pre-loaded hard drives. 

The physical team will build on their globally leading record of seizures and takedowns, now valued at over £39m since 2020. Members have reported that their ‘billion-dollar issue’ is piracy on licensed platforms, from royalty fraud to streaming manipulation and everything in between. Similarly, a huge concern is leaks of pre-release or unreleased work, which CPU handles globally through our flagship global delisting programme. 

This will also be the first-year global funding cycles begin to be aligned with RIAA and IFPI, which is no small feat, and we continue to share our priorities and see where we can align even closer. In CPU, we will be reaping the rewards of a data-cleaning exercise undertaken last year, and have begun to go live on automations to scale some of our previously manual investigative and enforcement work. This will enable us to deliver dashboard-style reporting and generate bespoke reports more immediately. Meanwhile, our success in cleaning up the Google Play Store of illicit apps ( which has led to an 87% reduction in infringing content) means we have also taken on enforcement action responsibility from IFPI on Apple iOS. 

Of course, none of this is to overshadow the myriad of additional work the team does, including working with our legal team, the comms team, the public affairs team and servicing law enforcement and member requests. Finally, our Secondee Niall is now in place at PIPCU, the only placement for the record industry, a huge coup for BPI.

What artists are you currently listening to?

I love a wide range of music, and have been going to music events since I was in my teens. I am a veteran of many festivals too, with Glastonbury being my favourite. I am currently listening to a lot of Louis Dunford, and am excited by his forthcoming tour. I also really enjoyed listening to recent albums by The Cure, Charli XCX, and Fontaines DC.