Top white-collar fraud police in Britain face heat over botched case            

Calls for reform of UK's Serious Fraud Office after 'litany of disasters' in recent years

The SFO is still essential to tackling complex financial crime but some lawyers argue it needs new leadership and more experienced UK criminal practitioners at the helm. Picture: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire

A London ruling that heavily criticised the behaviour of the country’s top fraud police officers capped a tough year for the Serious Fraud Office that saw prosecutions crumble and a conviction quashed.

The decision, which overturned a long-fought for guilty verdict in the Unaoil investigation, lambasted the agency for its inappropriate relations with a US fixer that triggered a review into its conduct from the UK’s most senior lawyer and led to calls for the agency’s head to resign.