A senior Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer agreed to take an "unpaid career break" before it was found he had taken up a contracted security advisor role at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

An investigation found that on June 9, 2020, GMP Inspector Tariq Butt, who was based at the force's Sedgley Park officer training complex, applied for a three-year career break for “childcare reasons and to go travelling”.

He stated he would not work and would be financially supported by his family.

But he failed to inform the force about the Qatar work offer, the force said, and in September 2020 he was employed on the World Cup safety and security operations committee.

Subsequent enquiries revealed that in January 2021 while visiting the UK, Insp Butt went to Astley Bridge Police Station and used a computer to access restricted documents relating to police deployments at major sporting and music events.

After being unable to download the documents onto an external USB drive, he emailed the documents to his personal account.

During the probe, the force's policy was reviewed, which confirmed officers needed to obtain the green light of GMP's Chief Constable before undertaking paid employment or a business interest while on a career break and no such permission was granted.

The panel also heard that in March 2021, Insp Butt informed the child maintenance service that his financial circumstances had not changed and was still entitled to a "nil assessment".

This was despite payments received from the Qatari employment, none of which was declared to GMP or the child maintenance service.

GMP referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) before an investigation was conducted by GMP’s anti-corruption unit, and gross misconduct was found proven against former Insp Butt. 

A three-day hearing by the force determined the former officer had breached the standards of behaviour for “discreditable conduct, confidentiality, honesty and integrity and orders and instructions”.

A disciplinary panel led by a legally qualified chair today, Thursday, ruled that Insp Butt would have been dismissed had he not already resigned.

He will now be placed on the police barred list.

Steve Noonan, IOPC director of operations, said: “Former Insp Butt has shown a complete disregard for the rules and acted dishonestly for his own personal gain.

“In doing so, he let down his colleagues and risked seriously undermining public confidence.

“To ensure that the public receive the best possible service police officers need permission before undertaking further paid employment or a business interest.

“Knowing that such a permission was not in place, Inspector Butt flouted the rules while claiming to be on a career break.

“This was compounded by the fact the former officer went on to access restricted documents and a failure to declare his true financial circumstances.

“The actions of Insp Butt fell well below the values and standards that are expected, lacking integrity and compromising the trust placed in officers.

“Today’s decision sends a clear message that this behaviour and wilful breach of standards has no place in policing, and he will now be barred from working for the police in future.”

Detective Superintendent Steve Keeley, of GMP's anti-corruption unit, said: “It is clear that the actions of Tariq Butt demonstrated a complete disregard for the values of honesty and trust that we and the public rightly expect of our officers.

“He blatantly breached these values for his own personal gain and left the panel no option but to dismiss him from the force.

"If we cannot trust his actions then we certainly cannot expect the public to do so either.

“The discreditable conduct of officers like Butt undermine the professionalism and hard work of thousands of officers across Greater Manchester every day, and we will continue to leave no stone unturned in pursuing  those who breach our standards.”

Following the investigation, which began in September 2021 and concluded in May 2022, a file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider any criminal charges.

The CPS confirmed in October 2022 it would not pursue a prosecution.