A Metropolitan Police sergeant who sexually assaulted a woman in the sea on his stag do has been jailed.
Sgt Laurence Knight, 34, met the woman, who was not known to him, in Brighton city centre during the early hours of 17 July 2021.
The pair walked to the beach together, stripped down to their underwear and went into the sea, where sexual activity took place.
Jurors heard that the victim had been out for dinner and drinks and was with a friend when they came across the “jovial” stag group, who were searching for an open bar.
Knight’s group of friends had been drinking heavily and had been visited by strippers in the hours before the incident.
Oxford-educated Knight, who had previously been employed as a charity worker and a teacher, had complained he was having a “rubbish night”, before trying to persuade the victim to go into the sea.
In her police interview, the woman recalled speaking to Knight about his imminent nuptials, and that he had said he was “really excited” and was “looking forward to it”.
Once in the water, Knight stood behind her before moving her underwear to one side and touching her intimately.
The woman said she repeatedly told Knight to stop and reminded him that he was getting married in two weeks, the court heard.
Afterwards, she got dressed, told her friend what had happened and called 999. She claimed a friend of the defendant later told her: “Larry wants me to tell you that he’s sorry.”
He was cleared of an additional rape charge following a trial at Southwark— (PA Archive)
In his evidence, Knight claimed it was the woman who had suggested going into the sea and had initiated sexual contact by touching his penis.
He told jurors that he had touched her vagina for a few seconds, thinking it was consensual, before she made the comment about his upcoming wedding. He denied he had any intention to penetrate her.
Asked why he went into the sea, he claimed: “Quite honestly, I quite enjoyed having the attention. It was a very spur-of-the-moment request from her, it was not discussed before.
“Having had some alcohol and being the stag and being the one that everything was deflected towards, I suppose the phrase is ‘peer pressure’.”
Asked who the peer pressure was coming from, Knight said: “I may have applied it myself.”
On 21 July, he tried to send the woman a Facebook message, saying: “You are not (the woman) that went for a dip in the sea on Friday whilst her guy friend looked after her bag?”
When cross-examined, he said that he had sent the message to “acknowledge I was embarrassed. She was younger, perhaps less mature and she was the one that stepped in and stopped it going any further.”
He said he later deleted the message as he became worried that his fiancee would see it.
When he was arrested, he told jurors his “initial reaction” was to believe he was being subjected to “an extended prank from the stag do”.
Knight, of Leyton, east London, denied two charges of rape and sexual assault and was convicted of the latter following a trial at Southwark Crown Court. He has been jailed for two years and will remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
A restraining order was also put in place barring him from contacting the complainant. Knight had been suspended from the Met and he has now left the force.
A misconduct hearing has been scheduled for August 3 to determine whether he acted in gross misconduct and if dismissal would have been justified.
Jayne Cioffi from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “As a police officer Knight clearly understood the concept of consent and realised that, without consent, he would be committing a sexual assault, but set what he knew aside for his own selfish reasons.
“He persuaded his victim to go into the water with him and then callously took advantage of a woman he had just met.
“It was immediately clear to her friend as soon as she came out of the sea that something terrible had happened. She called the police immediately and, when officers arrived at the scene, they found her crying and hyperventilating.
“Knight said he had just wanted a bit of last minute fun on his stag night but his actions have had a devastating impact on his victim and, as a police officer, he would have been only too well aware of that.
“I would like to thank the complainant for reporting what had happened to her.”
