Special police officer sentenced to jail for storing photos of dying Punch victims on Snapchat, sending friends grim details about the fatal crash

A sad widow said a special police officer who filmed a video of his husband’s body while he was lying on the street with “dignity” when he was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

William Heggs, 23, a volunteer at the Leicestershire Police Department, took photos of body camera footage with his mobile phone showing William Harty’s death after fighting his brother-in-law in October 2021.

Heggs attended the attack scene when Harty, 28, was found seriously injured and before paramedics arrived.

The next month, while on duty, Heggs showed the police officers the image of Mr. Hardy: “I know I shouldn’t have it.”

Heggs’ clips are restricted, arrested and stopped searches; photos of injuries; and slideshows showing suspects on their phones

Leicester Crown Court heard that when Hergus’ phone was caught by officials, they found him “repeated, blatantly” violating policing rules, which he would be fully aware of due to extensive training.

Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard told the court that during the six months between July 2021 and December 2021, Heggs shared graphic details of the injuries suffered by a woman who died in contact with Snapchat in a road traffic collision.

He also shared a colleague-like footage of an officer who fell with another colleague and laughed at it, taking photos and videotapes involving knife seizures, using batons and pepper spray, and a man who was first aided with injured hands.

He also took a photo showing details of a man who was convicted of sexual offences, including his date of birth, and took a 12 photos of a police screen on his personal cell phone that showed details of various crimes and suspects without consent.

The former volunteer joined the unit in January 2021 with his policing degree at De Montfort University, keeping photos and videos in a Snapchat folder called “My Eyes.”

There is nothing to hint at about sharing with anyone on social media, but he does admit to showing one of the pictures to his mother.

Heggs, who was suspended from November 2021 until his resignation in October 2024, claimed to have neurodiversity issues and told investigators that he had taken photos to help him deal with his feelings about the incident.

But he pleaded guilty to 11 crimes of computer abuse and data protection on the day he was tried.

He acknowledged that causing the computer to perform functions to ensure/enable unauthorized access to programs or data held in the computer or to enable access to any such access rights, contrary to Sections 1 (1) and (3) of the Computer Abuse Act of 1990, and to ignorant/recklessly calculates the unintentional acquisition or disclosure of personal data by Leicester Crown.

He was sentenced to 12 months in prison today in the same court on Friday.

Mr. Hardy’s widow, Mandy Casey, was in court. Her brother, Martin Casey, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail in 2022 after pleading guilty to her husband’s crime of manslaughter.

Ms Casey wrote in a victim impact statement that she lost trust in the police and was still afraid that she might see pictures of her husband’s body appearing on social media.

“You don’t enjoy the dignity and pride of someone in their dead bed,” she said.

Ms. Casey added: “When he was the most vulnerable, he respected my husband’s dignity. When I found out that special police officer Heggs did this, I just wanted to ask why.

“He hurt me. I don’t think I’ll ever know if he showed them to others.

Judge Timothy Spencer said Heggs, who has autism and ADHD, was “probably immature and unable to be a policeman” because he imprisoned him for 12 months.

He said: “It’s obvious that you are not lacking in enthusiasm and your policing is sometimes a model standard, but you are lacking in maturity.

“You have extensive training, you know the importance of data protection, and you know that you should share material for real policing purposes only.

“You know the lines are drawn, the lines are very clear.”

Heggs appeared in the dock in a dark suit and pink tie and looked forward when sentenced, imposing “repeated and continual violations of good boundaries.”

Judge Spencer accepted that Hergers’ actions were not out of “evil”, but that the defendant claimed that he had access to the material so that he could learn from his experience and become a better official “far from it.”

He said Heggs’ actions “seriously undermined” public trust and confidence in the police.

The judge added: “You have a lot of great references and your on-site policing is an absolute model at times.

“You may be a huge asset to the police and society. There are many benefits in you, it’s a tragedy, and you abandon what could have been a good career. ”

The Heggs family sobbed in a public gallery as they were taken to the cell.

The prosecution follows a preliminary investigation by the Leicestershire Police Department, followed by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC).

Malcolm Mchaffie, head of the Crown Prosecutor’s Special Crime Division, said: “William Heggs abused the public’s trust in his office as a special police officer. He had no obvious reason to violate the dignity of the victims of the deceased, except that he could be considered a personal obsession and gained credibility from his peers.

“He repeatedly abused his power to access police computers and blatantly violated data protection laws to disclose personal data to the public.

“He has no right to take pictures of physical shots on his personal cell phone, nor has he shared the shots with third parties. His behavior is insensitive and illegal.

William Harty, known as Billy, died after being injured in a fight with brothers in October 2021

Martin Casey pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to three years in jail in 2022

“The CPS will always seek to prosecute this crime and it is correct for William Heggs to be punished for his actions.”

“The court heard that former special police officer Heggs had a neurodiversity problem,” said Derrick Campbell, director of the IOPC, and told our investigators that he took photos to help him deal with his feelings about the incident.

“However, he would know from the training that his actions violated data protection rules and were apparently intended to hide images of the crime scene, and he transferred it to a password-protected file on his phone as the police arrived at his home for an interview.

“Sharing confidential and sensitive police information in the way he did is a clear abuse of his power and trust, and his belief sends a strong message to him that such behavior will not be tolerated.”

Martin Casey, then 30, accepted the illegal killing of his “best friend” and his brother-in-law, Billy’Harty, who died after a street fight caused by drunkenness and drugs.

He was tried for murder but was cleared by a jury.

Mr. Hardy married Casey’s sister, two men described as close friends since childhood.

They are also colleagues who have established the roofing and gardening business together.

His trial learned that when cocaine was also consumed, they began fighting in the streets after drinking all night.

They started to struggle, and then Casey beat him repeatedly.

The officer who arrived at 5.15 a.m. found Mr. Harty unconscious and unresponsive. They started CPR before the ambulance arrived, but Mr. Hatty died shortly afterwards.

After being told of death, Casey handed herself to the police, telling the police that they were both fighting but did not conduct a “comment” interview.

When he presented evidence in court, he said he never intended to seriously harm his brother-in-law, but instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter.