Toby Knight said his police career would ‘end in ignominy’, he was right
20:08, 29 May 2025Updated 21:07, 29 May 2025
Toby Knight
A disgraced Greater Manchester Police inspector scheduled hundreds of meetings with sex workers on his force-issued phone, including some while he was on duty.
Inspector Toby Knight arranged 245 events with adult sex workers on his mobile between September 2018 and February 2024. Of those, 165 were at a time when he was due to be on shift.
Examination of his personal phone also found some 357 events which had been scheduled in the period between May 25, 2023, and April 2, 2024 – the equivalent of more than one a day.
Of these, 29 were when he was on duty and 27 when he was recorded as having called in sick to work.
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After serving nearly 30 years with Greater Manchester Police Knight retired on Wednesday (May 28) – the day before a gross misconduct hearing concluded that had he still been serving he would have been dismissed without notice.
He did not attend the hearing chaired by Chief Resource Officer Lee Rawlinson, who said that Knight “has chosen not to engage with this process”.
A personal statement by Knight was read out in which the disgraced former officer said: “My career is not defined by this allegation because I am more than that.”
But he also complained that as a result of the allegations his “career in the police would end in ignominy.”
Joining GMP in 1997, in his statement Knight described the world as a “very different place back then”.
In 2024, he was arrested and admitted in a police interview that he was a “regular user” of sex workers, and that he had used both his GMP issued mobile phone and his personal phone to book appointments.
Some of the sex workers Knight made contact with were known to GMP.
The hearing, at Greater Manchester Police HQ, found that Knight had deliberately broken police regulation barring officers and police staff from visiting sex workers, as this would harm the reputation of the police and risk officers becoming compromised.
Mr Rawlinson told the hearing: “His actions were patently not appropriate and not of the standard expected of a police officer.”
In addition to saying he would have been dismissed had he still been serving, Knight was added to the College of Policing’s list of people barred from the profession.
“The level of seriousness in this case is very high. The behaviour of Mr Knight was totally unacceptable,” concluded Mr Rawlinson.
“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.”
Following the hearing, Detective Superintendent Simon Hurst, of GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate, 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.”
He added: “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.”