Officer admits taking photos of corpse from footage

A former special constable has pleaded guilty to a string of criminal charges after using his mobile phone to take photographs of police footage showing the body of a crime victim.

William Heggs was warned he is "looking at going to prison" when he is sentenced in May, after admitting 11 computer misuse and data protection offences at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday.

He was a volunteer officer with Leicestershire Police at the time of the offences.

The 23-year-old, of Copeland Drive in Leicester, had also been accused of misconduct in public offence, which was dropped in light of the guilty pleas.

Heggs had been due to stand trial but admitted the charges in front of 16 prospective jurors.

Among the charges he admitted was one that he "accessed body-worn footage covering a crime scene" involving William Harty, who was killed by his brother-in-law in October 2021.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard told the court Heggs had "broken the rules" regarding access to sensitive materials, storing some of it on his personal mobile phone.

He had shared the material with friends, the court heard, and had also shared an image of "a serious crime" with a colleague who had nothing to do with the investigation but "did the right thing and reported the matter".

Other offences admitted by Heggs related to images of arrests, a stop-and-search of suspects, and a computer screen showing details of suspects.

He was charged following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct which began in November 2021.

Judge Timothy Spencer KC adjourned sentence until 9 May after an application for a pre-sentence report supported by the fact Heggs is neurodiverse and has no previous convictions.

Granting bail, the judge told Heggs he would receive credit for his guilty pleas but said it would not be as much "as if you had owned up months ago, probably as you should have".

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