Met Police officers took photos of dead bodies on their personal phones, hearing reveals
Metropolitan Police officers used personal phones to take and share images of deceased individuals, including a decomposed body found in an elderly care residence, according to a misconduct hearing. Officers reportedly used WhatsApp to compress and transfer files due to poor quality of official equipment. Pc Billy Manning retained a photo on WhatsApp despite being warned, prompting discomfort among colleagues and revealing systemic confusion over device policies.
- ▪Met Police officers took photos of a decomposed body at an elderly care home in Dalston using personal phones.
- ▪Pc Zak Malik sent the images to Pc Billy Manning via WhatsApp to reduce file size for official upload.
- ▪Pc Manning kept the image in his WhatsApp chat after deleting it from his phone and responded with laughing emojis when warned.
- ▪Officers justified using personal devices due to inadequate quality of police-issued photographic equipment.
- ▪The incident exposed widespread uncertainty within the Met about the use of personal phones for work purposes.
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NewsUKHome NewsMet Police officers took photos of dead bodies on their personal phones, hearing revealsPc Billy Manning kept a photo of an elderly man who had died before showing it to ‘uncomfortable’ fellow officersGeorge Lithgow Saturday 02 May 2026 14:37 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2969448","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/met-police-photo-phone-manning-b2969448.html","title":"Met officers took photos of dead bodies on their personal phones, hearing reveals"}}open image in…
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