Cambridgeshire Constabulary officers have been presented with a prestigious business award at a star-studded presentation ceremony in London.

The force and technology company Forensic Pathways jointly received the Orange Best Use of Technology in Business Award at this year's National Business Awards.

The presentation ceremony was held on Tuesday night (November 10) at the Grosvenor House Hotel, in London, and hosted by TV presenter Kirsty Wark. It was attended by more than 1200 business leaders and guests included keynotes speaker Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The award category stated the winning organisation(s) would "best demonstrate that it has effectively used business technology to create a significant and exploitable competitive or operational advantage in any business area including revenue, improved quality and/or customer convenience".

The award was for a piece of software that analyses phone numbers and allows officers to link suspects through their mobile phones. For example, if detectives had confiscated several mobile phones from a suspected criminal gang, the software could be used to gather evidence by assessing all possible connections between those phones.

Detective Chief Superintendent Russell Wate, who attended the ceremony with Detective Superintendent Tony Ixer, said: "We are very pleasantly surprised to win the award alongside our partner Forensic Pathways.

"This software allows us to use different and speedier work practices in order to catch and convict criminals."