Merseyside Police officer dismissed after taking murder scene selfie

A Merseyside Police officer was dismissed from the force after he took photographs of himself at a murder scene where a teenager had been stabbed to death, a misconduct hearing was told today, 29 December. PC Ryan Connolly was also found to have sent racist and homophobic images via Whatsapp while on duty.

There was a number of disciplinary offences against Connolly over the six-year period he served as an officer for Merseyside Police including the photo at the cordon of a murder scene and sharing a picture of a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He is also said to have taken photos of mentally ill people being sectioned by members of his unit and photographed another officer’s rear.

He resigned in November before a disciplinary hearing was due to take place. Merseyside Police say he has now been formally dismissed from the post following a gross misconduct hearing. Merseyside Police said their anti-corruption unit had caught Connolly and his “offensive behaviour”, which began in 2014.

The three breaches of professional standards that were brought before the panel were

• Connolly had taken photographs of vulnerable people on his personal phone whilst on duty, which is in breach of the force mobile phones and ICT policy.
• Between 2015 and 2018 Connolly stored images on his personal phone that were racist, homophobic and severely offensive and on some occasions had shared those images.
• Connolly maintained contact with a known criminal and did not disclose the relationship in line with the force’s Notifiable Association Policy.

DCC Ian Critchley from Merseyside Police described Connolly’s behaviour as ‘deplorable’ and said it undermine the public’s confidence and trust in the police.

DCC Critchley said “The Police Service will not tolerate this type of behaviour. We are rooting out those who have no place in policing.

“The acts of officers like Connolly seriously undermines the good work going on every day across the force, but I will continue to shout loudly about the professional, empathetic, selfless, brave, inclusive colleagues who every day put the communities first in everything they do.

“This can be seen by the outstanding work of our staff in response to the incident at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. These acts should never be overshadowed by the acts of someone like Connolly.

We encourage both the public and our officers and staff to come forward if they witness wrongdoing, and we will act as you have seen in this case, quickly and professionally”.

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