Police officer who contacted intercourse employee claimed he was searching for therapeutic massage

A police officer who “intentionally” contacted a sex worker despite insisting he had been searching online for massages has been sacked. Officer A, who cannot be named due to an anonymity order, texted a number that was connected with a prostitute, a misconduct hearing was told.

The number was soon connected to a pimp who would later be convicted of controlling prostitution for gain, it was said.

The Leicestershire police officer sent the message, “Hi, you free today?” to a number associated with “English Emma” at around 4.41 pm in September 2024. He was sent a “price list” two hours later, the hearing at Leicestershire Police headquarters in Enderby on October 6 was told.

Officer A had regularly contacted legitimate masseuses in the past, which is why he came across the number, the hearing was told. But he could not recall where he got the sex worker’s contact detail, LeicestershireLive reports.

Liz Briggs, representing the force, told the hearing that two SIM cards were recovered from the pimp’s phone – both of which connected to sex workers. She said that Officer A had not presented enough evidence to clear his name, including redacted bank statements. He also failed to hand over phone data, she added.

Amanda Thwaites, from Leicestershire Police Federation and who represented the cop, said that the lack of evidence was “striking”. She said it was on the force to prove that the officer did contact the number of sexual services.

Mrs Thwaites told the hearing there was no follow-up from the officer to solicit, pay or any further messages for any sexual services. She added that the officer was “hard-working”, “trustworthy” and “devoted” to policing.

Chief Constable David 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?”

Mrs Thwaites said that the officer had searched for “massages in Leicester” and that the number had appeared as a result. But Mr 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 told the hearing that he thought, “What the hell was that?”, when he was sent a follow-up message from the sex worker’s number.

Mrs Briggs asked him about the redacted bank statements and the lack of phone data. He claimed that the statements were “his”, adding he didn’t hand over the phone data due to legal advice.

Mr Sandall ruled that Officer A did commit gross misconduct because the officer “intentionally” contacted a number connected to sexual services and knew he was doing so. The chief constable ruled that he be dismissed without notice. He said: “I recognise how devastating this is for you, but it should not define you”.

Speaking after the verdict was reached, Officer A claimed that he felt like the chief constable had “got this one wrong”. He added that he had been “failed by the system”.

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