Police officer sacked over message to sex worker

A Leicestershire Police officer has been sacked for "intentionally" contacting a sex worker despite claiming he had been searching for massages online.

A misconduct hearing held at the force's headquarters in Enderby heard how Officer A - who cannot be named due to an anonymity order – texted a number connected with a prostitute in September 2024.

The panel heard the officer insisted he had been searching for legitimate masseuses, but could not recall how he had got the number and had redacted his bank statements and failed to hand over phone data.

Dismissing him with immediate effect, Chief Constable David Sandall told the hearing the officer's story "doesn't sit right".

Tuesday's hearing was told he officer sent the message "Hi, you free today?" to a number associated with "English Emma" before being sent a "price list" two hours later, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Liz Briggs, representing the force, told the hearing Officer A had not presented enough evidence to clear his name.

Representing the officer, Amanda Thwaites, from Leicestershire Police Federation, pointed out there was no follow-up from the officer to solicit, pay or any further messages for any sexual services and he was "hard-working", "trustworthy" and "devoted" to policing.

Sandall told the hearing: "How do you get the number of a sex worker in the first place? That doesn't sit right. Where has that number come from?"

Thwaites said that the officer had searched for "massages in Leicester" and that the number had appeared as a result.

Sandall said: "I just can't get my head around it. You wouldn't normally say that to someone you don't know."

Officer A claimed his response was because he was a "short texter".

He later told the hearing he thought "what the hell was that?" when he was sent a follow-up message from the sex worker's number.

Briggs later asked him about the redacted bank statements and the lack of phone data, to which he claimed the statements were "his" and said he didn't hand over the phone data due to legal advice.

Sandall ruled Officer A did commit gross misconduct because he "intentionally" contacted a number connected to sexual services and knew he was doing so.

He said: "I recognise how devastating this is for you, but it should not define you."

After the verdict, Officer A said he felt like the Chief Constable had "got this one wrong", claiming he had been "failed by the system".

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