Metropolitan Police officer kept dead body photo on phone, hearing finds
Metropolitan police officers used personal phones to photograph evidence, including a dead body, and sent the images on WhatsApp during a misconduct hearing held between November 2025 and February 2026. The hearing heard that officers treated personal devices as routine workplace tools because police-issued phones were said to be inadequate for quality photographs.
Billy Manning and Zak Malik
PC Billy Manning kept a picture of a dead man on his phone and later showed it to colleagues at a training course at a Shoreditch police station the following year. He told the hearing that what he did was “common practice,” and two officers said they felt very uncomfortable and reported him after he displayed the image.
PC Zak Malik took photos of the dead man on his personal phone and sent them to Manning on WhatsApp. Malik said he sent the images “so he could reduce the file size and upload them to the Met's system.” Manning then deleted the photos from his iPhone library but did not delete them from his WhatsApp.
Dalston residence photos
The images came from an assisted residence for elderly people in Dalston, east London, where officers discovered a resident who had died some days or weeks earlier. Manning replied with three laughing face emojis after Malik warned him the photo was still on WhatsApp.
Other pictures found on Manning’s phone related to victims, suspects and evidence. The phone also contained images that were shown during the hearing, and Manning was arrested and had his mobile phone seized after the report from the two officers.
Met guidance dispute
The misconduct panel heard evidence of confused and conflicting guidelines over whether Met officers could use their phones for work, and the Met’s senior leadership team had interpreted the guidance differently. Manning was also the creator of a WhatsApp group called Away Days containing sexist, homophobic, ableist and transphobic content.
The Met issued a written warning to Manning and to PC Frankie Jordan, who was found with photos of evidence on his phone. Jordan said he “did not believe that he had done anything wrong” because officers “routinely took photos of evidence on their personal mobile phones,” and he denied deliberately retaining images, saying he forgot they were there.
Manning received a final written warning for two years and Jordan received a final warning for three years. The Met apologised to anyone affected by the officers’ actions, and no criminal charges were pursued.
