A serving police officer took selfies while on duty guarding a murder investigation scene following the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy, a court heard today.
PC Ryan Connolly, 41, took pictures of himself – including one where he was lying down in the summer sunshine – while manning a cordon, a jury was told.
The Merseyside Police officer had been tasked with securing the scene in Liverpool on July 3, 2018 following the killing of Daniel Gee-Jamieson, 16.
Daniel died in hospital after he was stabbed during a fight watched by up to 30 youths.
Prosecutor Peter Wilson told the jury at Manchester Crown Court there were ‘selfies of him stood there and then laying down’.
‘You may think if you are guarding the scene of a murder then you would not be sending selfies whilst on duty, and would consider that to be an important job and something that deserves respect, rather than laying down taking a selfie,’ he told them.
Police officers are ‘entrusted by the public not only to uphold the rule of law, but to safeguard and protect the society’ and therefore ‘cannot abuse their position of power and trust’, the prosecutor added.
Connolly is accused of unlawfully taking six crime scene photos, as well as using his mobile phone to take photos of police documents and people with whom officers were dealing.
He allegedly took 24 photos of people arrested at police stations and hospitals before sharing them on WhatsApp.
The jury of seven women and five men were told that some of those photographed included domestic violence victims or ‘vulnerable’ people with mental health problems.
Connolly, of Liverpool, denies four counts of misconduct in a public office.
The court heard that the ‘inappropriate’ photos were taken between February 2014 and February 2020 while he was on duty.
He was arrested on February, 4 2020 and his mobile phone was seized during an anti-corruption investigation by Merseyside Police.
Mr Wilson said: ‘The defendant states in his response to the misconduct allegations that the images recovered from his mobile phone had been taken for a work purpose.
‘He also says that he took the images using his personal mobile phone for ease and quickness.
‘His case is that none of the photographs were made public and only shared with the individual police officer he intended them to be shared with and not, under any circumstances, within a group chat.
‘The prosecution case is that his actions in taking the pictures on his personal mobile and having them stored in WhatsApp and not on any police system whatsoever amounts to criminal misconduct.’
Photos taken by Connolly showed him posing near the cordon and did not include any images of Daniel, the court heard.
One featured him in a park which surrounded the crime scene in the Gateacre area and all were taken before 9am.
Giving evidence, Detective Constable Kayleigh Greaves, who reviewed the photos, said: ‘The cordon covered a large area.
‘It took a lot of officers to guard the scene.’
She added: ‘There was nothing sensitive about the images.’
Mr Wilson asked DC Greaves: ‘If you are on guard at a murder scene, is there any reason for you to take a selfie?’
The officer replied: ‘No.’
Owen Cousins was later cleared of Daniel’s murder but convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 11 years.
The trial continues.
