Chief superintendent retires after three decades with CNC

CNC said Chief Superintendent Duncan Worsell was a model professional with a proven track record of delivering exceptional policing work during a storied career and his departure will be felt across the organisation.

Appointed MBE for his services to the industry in 2019 from future King Charles III, Chief Supt Worsell spent seven years serving in the Royal Navy before joining the CNC in June 1992.

Chief Supt Worsell said he would miss the people most, adding: “It’s been a joy and a privilege to work with those I have. It’s really important you care about people and being kind to everyone you work with, as well as yourself.

“As is learning to trust people and to believe in them. If you do, they will believe in themselves. That’s when an organisation like the CNC is at its best. When we get it right, our people have delivered the most extraordinary outcomes.”

During his three decades with the constabulary, Chief Supt Worsell was an authorised firearms officer for 13 years, trained as a national firearms instructor, spent 15 years as a strategic firearms commander, and two periods as assistant chief constable.

He was also on board the vessel that took the first transport of nuclear material from Europe to Japan in the 1990s, and led on the extended deployment project in 2005, which saw the CNC expand from policing legacy facilities to EDF power stations. This changed the mould of the organisation from a static guard to a counter-terrorism force.

Chief Supt Worsell said his other proudest moments include the Sellafield uplift in 2010 that doubled the number of officers and staff working at the Cumbrian site. He also played a key role in hosting the first national Women in Armed Policing conference in Birmingham in 2019.

In the past couple of years, he was Silver commander for the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic, and internally, led the Business and People Support System programme.

Chief Constable Simon Chesterman said: “I am hugely grateful to Duncan for his dedication and commitment to the CNC. He richly deserved his MBE for services to policing. His commitment and enthusiasm lasted to his last working day when we said goodbye to him at Culham.

“Duncan leaves behind a strong legacy, having successfully led and delivered a number of significant operational and business programmes that have changed and improved the force. I will miss his positivity and optimism in everything he approached.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Duncan for his decades of public service and to wish him and his family well for the future.”