Met officers took photos of dead bodies on their personal phones, probe reveals

Officers argued it was common practice because police standard issue devices did not take good enough pictures, the internal Scotland Yard probe heard.

Investigators were told how police officers routinely sent evidence pictures to each other on WhatsApp as a “workaround” to compress files before emailing and uploading them to the Met system.

One officer who was found to have kept pictures of dead bodies on his personal phone after a death investigation showed colleagues “a bad one” at a training session.

Pc Billy Manning kept a photo of an elderly man who had died before showing it to “uncomfortable” fellow officers.

His arrest and subsequent investigation revealed confusion, even within the Met’s senior leadership team, about whether officers should be allowed to use their personal phones for police work.

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The force said it had apologised to those affected by his actions.

The misconduct hearing heard that in September 2021, Pc Manning and Pc Zak Malik had been called to an assisted residence for elderly people in Dalston, east London.

The officers found a resident who had died “some days or weeks earlier” and whose body was in a bad state of decomposition.

Pc Malik took a photo of the dead man on his personal phone before sending it to Pc Manning on WhatsApp.

He sent them to reduce the file size so it could be uploaded to the Met system and go to the coroner, the hearing was told.

Pc Manning deleted the photo from his iPhone library, but did not delete it from his WhatsApp thread.

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

The following year, at a taser training course at Shoreditch police station, Pc Manning was discussing “difficult situations” with other officers, the investigation heard.

He decided to show them the photo of the man who had died, saying: “I’ve been to a bad one, I will show you the picture.”

Two of the officers “felt very uncomfortable” and reported him to their seniors, the hearing was told.

Pc Manning was arrested and claimed it was “common practice”.

His mobile was seized and the contents downloaded, with analysis revealing several other pictures “relating to victims, suspects and evidence”.

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

Another officer told the hearing he attended a separate sudden-death callout with Pc Manning, where photos had also been taken on their personal phones, but he could not remember who took them.

Criminal charges were not pursued, but the investigation led to misconduct proceedings against Pc Manning and a second officer in the group, Pc Frankie Jordan, who had also kept photos of evidence.

Pc Jordan told investigators he “did not believe that he had done anything wrong” and that “he and colleagues routinely took photos of evidence on their personal mobile phones and sent them to colleagues via WhatsApp”.

Pc Jordan said he and his colleagues had not been allocated work mobile phones and that the police-issued tablets were “sub-standard”.

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

As the problem emerged, senior officers warned that using personal mobile phones for policing purposes was not in line with accepted policy.

But following the briefing, other officers came forward to report they had done the same thing.

The issue was discussed at a senior leadership team meeting in February 2022, where it was decided that personal phones should never be used for policing purposes.

But the misconduct panel heard evidence of “confused and conflicting guidelines” that even within the Met’s senior leadership team were interpreted differently.

After a public misconduct hearing held between November 2025 and February 2026, Pc Manning was handed a final written warning for a period of two years and Pc Jordan received a final warning for three years.

A Met spokesperson said: “All allegations relating to misconduct at the Met Police are taken very seriously and are thoroughly investigated, regardless of who they are committed by.

“The actions of PC Manning and PC Jordon were highly inappropriate and fell below the standards expected of them as an officer. Based on the evidence heard by the Misconduct Hearing, they were both issued with a final written warning for two and three years respectively.

“We would like to apologise to those affected by the officer’s actions and for any distressed caused.”