Police officers photographed body on own phones

Metropolitan Police officers used personal devices to take photos of evidence, including images of a dead body, a misconduct hearing has revealed.

Officers told an internal Scotland Yard investigation that they routinely used their own phones, and sent images via WhatsApp, because police-issued devices were not good enough to take quality photographs.

PC Billy Manning was found to have kept a picture of a dead man on his phone, which he later showed colleagues at a training session, the hearing was told.

The Met issued a written warning to Manning and to another officer, PC Frankie Jordan, who also kept photos of evidence on his phone, and apologised to anyone affected by the officers' actions.

The misconduct hearing heard that Manning was sent to an assisted residence for elderly people in Dalston, east London, where he and other officers discovered a resident who had died "some days or weeks earlier".

PC Zak Malik took photos of the dead man on his personal phone and sent them to Manning on WhatsApp.

Malik sent the images so he could reduce the file size and upload them to the Met's system, the hearing was told.

Manning deleted the photos from his iPhone library but did not delete them from his WhatsApp.

When Malik realised the photo was still on WhatsApp and warned Manning, he replied with three laughing face emojis.

At a training course at a Shoreditch police station the following year, Manning was discussing "difficult situations" with fellow officers and decided to show them the photo of the dead man, saying: "I've been to a bad one, I will show you the picture."

Two officers "felt very uncomfortable" and reported him.

Manning was then arrested and his mobile was seized. Other pictures were found relating to victims, suspects and evidence. He claimed what he did was "common practice".

It was also discovered that he was the creator of a WhatsApp group called "Away Days" containing sexist, homophobic, ableist and transphobic content.

Jordan, who also appeared at the misconduct hearing, was found with photos of evidence on his phone.

He said he "did not believe that he had done anything wrong" as officers "routinely took photos of evidence on their personal mobile phones".

He denied deliberately retaining images on his device, saying he forgot that they were there.

The misconduct panel heard evidence of "confused and conflicting guidelines" over whether Met officers could use their phones for work. Even the Met's senior leadership team had interpreted the guidelines differently.

Following the hearing, held between November 2025 and February 2026, Manning was handed a final written warning for a period of two years and Jordan received a final warning for three years. No criminal charges were pursued.

A Met spokesperson said: "The actions of PC Manning and PC Jordan were highly inappropriate and fell below the standards expected of them as an officer… We would like to apologise to those affected by the officers' actions and for any distress caused."