WHERE'S SIMON KNIGHT?

SIMON’S BIZARRE DISAPPEARANCE 15 YEARS AGO LOOKS SET FOR A NEW REVIEW BY NSW POLICE

- John Burfitt

With his sparkling blue eyes, shock of red hair, beaming smile and handsome features, Simon Knight was hard to miss.

So recalls Simon’s close friend and one-time partner, playwright Lachlan Philpott, as the 15th anniversary of Simon’s peculiar disappearance on a wintry Sydney night in 2005 looms in the coming months.

“Simon was the kind of guy who had a real twinkle in his eye when he smiled, and was also very strong-minded,” Lachlan recalls.

The pair dated in the mid-’90s. After they broke up, they became flatmates in Melbourne and remained close. Simon later returned to Sydney, where he worked as a chef.

“We were like brothers and he was the kind of person who would stand up for his principles. He was also a very sensitive man, but he had a secretive side and you often didn’t really know what was going on with him.”

That secret side is what Lachlan fears could well have come at a high cost. On July 21, 2005, Simon, then aged 32, left the house he was sharing with friends and checked into an inner-city Sydney motel for the night. He had with him an expensive mountain bike, and had withdrawn $500 from his bank account.