Richard was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in 1978 and served in Northern Ireland, the Far East and the Middle East on counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism and counter-human trafficking operations. In 1989, he joined the FCDO, where he held several domestic and overseas appointments, serving in Iraq, Stockholm, Geneva and Kosovo. He ran the operational commands for Central Europe (2001-2003) and then Eastern Europe (2003-2004). Following an 18-month posting in Baghdad in 2005, he was posted to the Cabinet Office to coordinate the intelligence requirements on a range of national security issues for No 10, the FCDO and the Ministry of Defence.

In 2007, Richard was appointed as a Chief Constable when he took over command of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC). He served on the national police body responsible for delivering the UK’s national Counter Terrorism strategy – CONTEST. And on the national police Interoperability Board.

Richard also served on the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Nuclear Security Board. In 2012, he set up Elvaston Global Ltd, a security and risk based advisory company and in 2015 co-founded arx Partners that has developed an enterprise risk management software platform.