Fraud detective clinches Investigator of the Year award

A young fraud detective who volunteers himself for complex cases, despite being at an early stage in his career, has been crowned Nottinghamshire Police’s top investigator.

Detective Constable Sean Osborn (pictured) joined the force’s fraud unit in 2021 and has taken on a number of challenging investigations.

The 26-year-old’s overall work ethic and commitment to his role impressed his colleagues and supervisors, resulting in him being named Investigator of the Year at this year’s Nottinghamshire Police Force Awards.

He was nominated by Detective Sergeant Marc Lancaster, who said:

“Sean regularly volunteers to take on complex investigations which would tax a much more experienced detective.

“He approaches these cases with great confidence and professionalism, effectively identifying and following the relevant lines of enquiry with great attention to detail and meticulous professionalism.”

Complex fraud cases can take over a year to be developed – and DC Osborn currently has three on his workload, the details of which cannot be disclosed publicly at this time.

Det Sgt Lancaster said:

“All of these cases have complexities and foreign aspects. But DC Osborn is able to deal with these operations very effectively, prioritising and progressing actions and lines of enquiry appropriately at all times.

“He consistently and effectively takes ownership of and manages and prioritises multiple large scale complex investigations to a high degree of success, including producing excellent reports, presentations and briefings to Fraud Team colleagues and members of other departments within Nottinghamshire Police.

“He very competently analyses large volumes of information gathered during his investigations to make sound evidenced based decisions in his tenacious pursuit of prolific high harm fraud offenders, in order to protect members of the public and prevent others from falling victim to the numerous fraud offences he investigates.

“He has also formed effective working partnerships with colleagues in other force areas in order to effectively execute search warrants and arrest suspects.

“Sean is an excellent representative of Nottinghamshire Police and fully deserves this recognition.”

DC Osborn said he was delighted to win the award. He said:

“I was quite surprised when I found out as I didn’t know I’d been nominated. It was a bit of a shock. There’s a lot of good investigators within Nottinghamshire Police so to win this award means a lot.

“With the longevity of the jobs we’re dealing with, they are complex but I enjoy the challenge. You get a lot of different colleagues helping you along the way and various different inputs, so it is a really good job to have.

“To then go on and win this award makes me feel really proud.”

More information about this year's Force Awards winners can be found here: Winners of Nottinghamshire Police Force Awards announced | Nottinghamshire Police