An inspector used his police-issued phone to arrange hundreds of meetings with sex workers, including dozens while he was on duty.
Greater Manchester Police officer Toby Knight scheduled 245 of these ‘events’ from September 2018 and February 2024, with 165 of them taking place while he was supposed to be on shift.
A further 357 meet-ups were organised on his personal phone between May 25, 2023 and April 2, 2024 – a rate of more than one a day, the Manchester Evening News reports.
He conducted 56 of these further appointments on days he was due to be working – with 29 taking place while he was on duty and another 27 when the officer had called in sick.
A gross misconduct hearing at Greater Manchester Police HQ on Thursday concluded he would have been dismissed without notice – had he not retired from the force the day before.
During the proceedings, a personal statement penned by the absent Knight, who had worked for Greater Manchester Police for 28 years, said: ‘My career is not defined by this allegation because I am more than that.’
The disgraced officer also bemoaned that the allegations meant his ‘career in the police would end in ignominy’.
Knight added that the world in 1997, when he joined the force, was a ‘very different place’.
Greater Manchester Police officer Toby Knight used his police-issued phone to arrange hundreds of meetings with sex workers, including dozens while he was on duty
Chief Resource Officer Lee Rawlinson, who chaired the hearing, said that the former policeman ‘has chosen not to engage with this process’.
The inspector was arrested in 2024 and told a police interview that he was a ‘regular user’ of sex workers, including some that were known to his force, and used his police-issued mobile to organise such meetings.
The hearing concluded that Knight had deliberately flouted regulations forbidding officers from seeing sex workers, given the harm it could cause the police’s reputation and the potential for its staff to become compromised.
He was also placed on the College of Policing’s list of people banned from policing.
Mr Rawlinson said: ‘His actions were patently not appropriate and not of the standard expected of a police officer.
‘The level of seriousness in this case is very high. The behaviour of Mr Knight was totally unacceptable.
‘Had Mr Knight not retired I would have dismissed him from the service with immediate effect. I would also like to add him to the College of Policing barred list.’
A gross misconduct hearing at Greater Manchester Police HQ on Thursday concluded he would have been dismissed without notice – had he not retired from the force the day before
Detective Superintendent Simon Hurst, of GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate, meanwhile, said in a statement: ‘Greater Manchester Police are committed to identifying and investigating the actions and behaviours of officers and staff, such as that from former Inspector Toby Knight who fall below the high standards and expectations we expect from them.
‘The detailed investigation into the behaviour and actions of Knight, resulting in today’s proceedings, has led to him being found guilty of gross misconduct and, and had he not retired and still been serving, he would have been sacked.
‘Knight will also be placed on the Policing Barred List to ensure he doesn’t work in law enforcement again.
‘I hope that today’s finding demonstrates GMP’s ongoing assurance to the public that officers and police staff who conduct themselves in such a manner have no place within Policing will be held to account for their actions.’
