A former Merseyside Police officer faces charges of misconduct after allegedly taking selfies at the scene where a 16-year-old boy was murdered in Liverpool.

Ryan Connolly, 41, from Huyton, Merseyside, denies four counts of misconduct in public office. Manchester Crown Court heard that Connolly was guarding the cordon at the Belle Vale murder scene in 2018, where Daniel Gee-Jamieson was killed, but instead captured images of himself.

Photos at the Murder Scene

Prosecutor Peter Wilson presented photos recovered from Connolly’s phone, including a selfie of the officer in uniform standing near police tape and another showing him lying on the grass. The images captured the secured area but revealed no sensitive details.

Broader Pattern of Inappropriate Images

Connolly was arrested in February 2020. Analysis of his seized mobile phones uncovered 24 photographs in the WhatsApp sent folder, depicting members of the public in police custody at stations, hospitals, or mental health facilities. These showed individuals on hospital beds, receiving treatment, in handcuffs, a found missing child at a station, and two people asleep in bed.

One image depicted a woman hiding in a cupboard; in her statement, she described the photo as “degrading and upsetting.” Additional pictures included police force systems, suspect images, and incident logs.

Prosecution’s Argument

Wilson asserts that Connolly wilfully took these unneeded photographs, retained them, and shared them via WhatsApp, breaching public trust in law enforcement. The prosecution notes the images were stored on his personal device and never uploaded to official police systems.

Connolly maintains the photos served work purposes. The trial is set to continue for four to five days.