Yates has served as a senior detective in North and West London, according to the MPA press release, and had been the senior investigating officer on over 20 murders. He led the complex corruption inquiries of recent years that led to the imprisonment of six serving detectives for sentences totalling 46 years. He has served on the Association of Chief Police Officers committee on rape Promotion to the substantive rank of Assistant Commissioner, comes with an annual salary of £159,135 and benefits according to the MPA. It also published online, a detailed job description for the role.
As Deputy Assistant Commissioner, then acting Assistant Commissioner, Yates heads the team of detectives investigating the allegations that life peerages were awarded in return for cash, and it was a member of his team who interviewed the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair in December 2006. John Yates was also the Met Police's senior officer who travelled to Brazil to meet the family of Jean Charles de Menezes who was shot dead after being mistaken for a terrorist during the London Bombings of 2005.. The profile pre-dates his substantive promotion to AC.
Yates's team handed its main file on the cash for peerages inquiry to the Crown Prosecution Service on Friday 20 April. Under English law, it is now up to the CPS to decide whether to bring charges against any of the 136 people interviewed.