Profile

Jon Marsden is a Detective Superintendent working on secondment to UK DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) from his home force of Warwickshire Police.  He has 28 years service, 22 of which were spent in his previous local force, West Mercia.  Jon is an experienced PiP3 and PiP 4 Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) having spent many years within homicide commands and at various ranks.  He is a long-standing member of the Homicide Working Group (HWG) supporting the lead Chief Constable Kate Meynell, specifically around Coronial matters but also in all facets of investigative work across policing.   

Jon took an interest in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) when seeing a recruitment advert for certain roles within force.  In 2018 Jon was trained as a Senior Identification Manager (SIM).  In addition, he undertook DVI foundation level training to ensure awareness and understanding of the core roles that officers/staff undertake when deployed.  Jon is a passionate supporter of the DVI community and is a firm believer that communication and a group of experienced contacts make difficult circumstances/events that little bit easier to manage.   

Whilst in force Jon ensured that his local force/region was as prepared as could be for mass disaster events by taking on the lead SIM role.  As part of this he committed to training events to share his knowledge/learning.   

In September 2021 Jon applied for and secured the role as national co-ordinator for UKDVI, having been appointed by Deputy Chief Constable Jane Gyford.  Now 3 years in post Jon has continued to build on the excellent work of his predecessors Detective Superintendent Pete Sparks and Mr Howard Way OBE.  Like any role, Jon has seen further opportunities to develop, promote and enhance the unit functions to ensure capability and preparedness across the UK but also internationally. 

Jon is the current Deputy Chair for the INTERPOL DVI Working Group having secured the position in May 2024.  He will become Chair of the group in 2026 for a period of 2 years. 

UK DVI is funded by the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.  UK DVI works with Police, Local Authorities, HM Coroners and forensic providers to help ensure that the UK has the capability to respond to mass fatality incidents in the UK or overseas, when required.