A Metropolitan Police officer would have been sacked from the force if he had not already resigned after being convicted of sexual assault, a misconduct hearing has ruled.
Former sergeant Laurence Knight, 34, who was attached to the custody team known as Met Detention, was jailed at Southwark Crown Court on Friday (28 July).
He was given a 12-month prison sentence for sexually assaulting a woman in the sea on his stag night two years ago.
Knight, of Albert Road, Leyton, in east London, resigned from the Met after his conviction in June for sexual assault by a jury who also found him not guilty of rape.
Today (Thursday 3 August) Scotland Yard said that an accelerated misconduct hearing had found that Knight would have been dismissed without notice were he still in post.
Chief Superintendent Peter Gardner, responsible for Met Detention, said: “Knight’s actions were thoroughly reprehensible and I recognise his behaviour would have further damaged the public’s trust in the police.
“The Commissioner has been clear that there is no place in the Met for officers who corrupt our integrity.
“Knight was suspended as soon as his offending came to light and had he not resigned he would have been dismissed with immediate effect.”
He will now be added to the “barred list” held by the College of Policing. It means that he cannot be employed by police, local policing bodies, the Independent Office for Police Conduct or His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.
When Knight was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court, he was given a further 12 months on licence, issued with a restraining order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
He was said to have met his victim, a stranger, in the centre of Brighton in the early hours of Saturday 17 July 2021.
Prosecutors said that they walked to the beach together, stripped down to their underwear and ended up in the sea where sexual activity took place.
Scotland Yard said that Knight was arrested on Wednesday 28 July 2021.
The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards was informed and he was suspended from duty.
