Former Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer Mohammed Ali Akbar Ryhan has been named in a major force investigation into non-legitimate contact with sex workers. He contacted sex workers 81 times over a four-year period, using his GMP-issued mobile phone both on and off duty.
Misconduct hearing details
At an accelerated misconduct hearing on June 19, chaired by GMP's chief resources officer Lee Rawlinson, it was revealed that Ryhan resigned the day before the hearing and chose not to attend. He had served as a police officer for eight years.
Force papers show that on October 23, 2019, Ryhan used his police phone to contact a sex worker while on duty, for no policing purpose. Between May 9, 2020 and March 23, 2023, he contacted 16 sex workers off duty using his GMP mobile, again with no legitimate policing purpose. On August 4, 2023, he contacted a sex worker while reportedly off sick, also for no policing purpose.
Ryhan had chosen not to engage with the investigation and gave no indication as to whether he accepted the allegations. There was no representation from the police federation on his behalf.
Gross misconduct finding
Mr Rawlinson concluded that Ryhan's actions amounted to gross misconduct, stating he had repeatedly and over a long period contacted sex workers using GMP equipment and ought to have been aware that standards had been breached. He added: "Ryhan's telephone records show repeated and regular contact with known sex workers from his GMP phone both on and off duty. His actions were intentional, deliberate, repeated and carried out in the full knowledge that his conduct was not befitting of a police officer."
Rawlinson noted that such actions bring the policing profession into disrepute and damage public trust. National policing guidance states that the use of sex workers is incompatible with the role of a police officer. "It is well known that they are frequently vulnerable people. PC Ryhan should have known he should be safeguarding them, not supporting their situation," Rawlinson said.
The hearing agreed with the finding of gross misconduct, and Ryhan would have been dismissed with immediate effect had he not already resigned. He was added to the College of Policing's Barred List.
Wider investigation
In December, GMP reported that eight police officers and two staff members were under investigation. The two sacked civilian staff members have not been named. The force's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) investigation was triggered by the case of Inspector Toby Knight, who scheduled hundreds of meetings with sex workers on his force-issued phone, including while on duty. Knight retired in May 2025, the day before a gross misconduct hearing concluded he would have been dismissed without notice.
Detective Superintendent Simon Hurst, head of GMP's ACU, said: "The majority of contacts with sex workers are for safeguarding and investigative purposes. However we won't stand for people making contact for no legitimate policing purpose... Anyone found guilty of making non-legitimate contact will have let the public down, and it betrays the work of the vast majority of our officers and staff."
Hurst added: "We have gone from being reactive to intelligence about a corrupt cop to now looking under stones... GMP is leading the way in force anti-corruption and this will enforce our determination to root out and boot out and uphold the very best standards. This investigation does not stop and any officer behaving in this way will be found."
