A special constable has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after taking unauthorised photographs of a dying man and sharing them with a colleague, in what a grieving widow described as a violation of her husband’s dignity. The case has sent ripples through the community and raised fresh concerns over data protection and conduct within the police.
William Heggs, 23, formerly a volunteer with Leicestershire Police, came under scrutiny after it was discovered he had used his personal mobile phone to take images from police body-worn camera footage. These photographs captured the dying moments of 28-year-old William Harty, who was found fatally injured on Bedale Drive in Leicester on 25 October 2021. Despite initial attempts to resuscitate Harty, he later died in hospital from head injuries.
Heggs, who attended the distressing incident during the course of his duties and administered CPR, subsequently kept these sensitive images in a Snapchat folder titled “My eyes only”. The matter came to light when Heggs showed the photographs to a police colleague, who was visibly disturbed by the content and promptly reported the incident to her superiors.
A police investigation revealed the scale of Heggs’s misconduct. Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard told Leicester Crown Court that, over a six-month period, Heggs had repeatedly ignored data protection laws and police protocol. In addition to the Harty photographs, he had shared distressing details of another fatal case involving a woman who had died in a car crash, and circulated various other inappropriate photographs, including those of a colleague who suffered a minor accident on duty.
The court was informed that Heggs’s actions extended well beyond a single incident. On his personal phone, officers found images detailing the identity of a convicted offender, as well as multiple photographs of confidential police computer screens displaying sensitive information about ongoing cases and suspects.
Throughout the trial, Mandy Casey, the widow of William Harty, expressed the devastating impact these actions had on her. In a powerful victim impact statement, she described how the violation had robbed her late husband of his dignity during his final, most vulnerable moments, and revealed her persistent fear that the images might resurface on social media.
The judge, Timothy Spencer, recognised Heggs’ previous good conduct and the promise he had demonstrated as a part-time officer, but concluded that his lack of maturity and disregard for clear boundaries warranted a custodial sentence. While Heggs, who has both autism and ADHD, claimed that he had accessed some of the material in a misguided attempt to learn from frontline incidents, the Court found this explanation unconvincing.
Judge Spencer described Heggs’s misconduct as both “persistent and repeated”, stressing that he had received comprehensive training and was fully aware of the serious breach he was making each time he accessed or shared the restricted data. The consequences of this behaviour, the judge remarked, had seriously undermined public trust in the police.
The courtroom was filled with emotion as the sentence was delivered. Members of Heggs’s family wept as he was led away, while the wider policing community reflected on how someone once considered a promising asset to their ranks could have compromised professional standards so gravely.
Following the hearing, Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, issued a statement condemning Heggs’s actions as an abuse of public trust. He reaffirmed the CPS’s commitment to prosecuting such offences, underscoring how these acts were not only insensitive but fundamentally illegal.
This case highlights the immense responsibility handed to those within the policing profession, especially in handling sensitive, potentially distressing material. It also shines a light on the emotional aftermath for victims’ families, whose suffering is compounded by the fear of their loved ones’ dignity being further eroded by unauthorised sharing of private moments. For Heggs, the decision marks the end of his short policing career, while the wider force is left to reckon with the urgent need for cultural vigilance around data protection and respect for privacy.