Officer denies taking photos of corpse from footage

A volunteer police officer has pleaded not guilty to sharing crime scene pictures and taking photographs of body-worn camera footage showing a corpse.

William Heggs, who worked as a special constable for Leicestershire Police, is accused of accessing footage of William Harty, who was killed by his brother-in-law outside his home in October 2021, and taking pictures of the footage on his personal mobile.

The 23-year-old appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Monday charged with 13 offences following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which began in November 2021.

He pleaded not guilty to one charge of misconduct in a public office, nine offences of unauthorised computer access and three charges of knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data, all alleged to have occurred between December 2020 and December 2021.

The court heard Mr Heggs allegedly accessed emails with details about road traffic collisions, took videos and photographs of body-worn camera footage and took photographs of police computer screens showing police intelligence and personal data.

The second charge on his indictment alleges that between 24 October 2021 and 14 November 2021, he took photographs of video footage showing Mr Harty, who died after a fight on 25 October that year.

Mr Harty's brother-in-law, Martin Casey, admitted manslaughter and was jailed for three years and four months in May 2022.

Mr Heggs was granted bail until a trial on 17 March next year, on the condition that he continues to live at his current address.

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