A COP who took selfies at a murder scene where a teenager had been stabbed to death has been sacked.
PC Ryan Connolly committed a string of “deplorable” offences over a six-year period, a tribunal heard.
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They included taking photos of vulnerable crime victims, people detained for mental health reasons, and sharing racist and homophobic messages.
The Merseyside Police officer resigned before the November hearing, but was formally dismissed after the tribunal, according to The Guardian.
Merseyside police’s deputy chief constable, Ian Critchley, told the paper: “Connolly had taken photographs of vulnerable people on his personal phone whilst on duty.
“This breached the duty of confidence; lacked honesty and integrity and through his discreditable conduct he has undermined public confidence.
“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… as a result, by socialising and associating with the criminal, brought the service into disrepute.”
Critchley added: “An investigation by our anti-corruption unit uncovered the fact that Connolly had been using his own phone to take photographs of vulnerable people whilst on duty and that the phone also contained appalling homophobic, racist and offensive images.
“The behaviour of this officer is deplorable and serves to undermine the public’s confidence and trust in the police.”
His case echoes that of convicted cops PC Deniz Jaffer and PC Jamie Lewis who took pictures of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27 in north London.
PC Connolly is barred for life from rejoining the service.
