Police IT worker jailed for illegally storing images of murder victims on home devices
Darren Collins was jailed at Birmingham Crown Courtroom for 3 years (Image: BPM)

A forensic IT specialist who illegally saved grisly photos of homicide victims and crime scenes acted out of ‘morbid curiosity’, a courtroom has heard.

Darren Collins, 56, was jailed on Friday for 3 years after admitting to misconduct in a public workplace whereas working for Staffordshire Police.

Collins was sacked when the offence got here to mild however was capable of illicitly entry and retailer the pictures for a interval of practically 5 years ending in December 2018.

He used a ‘again door’ within the power’s laptop system to acquire photos of useless individuals, a web site the place a physique was dumped, autopsy examinations and automobile crash scenes.

After his arrest, the 56-year-old claimed he solely appeared on the photos as a result of he wished to grow to be a scene-of-crime officer and noticed his digital forensics function as a ‘stepping stone’.

He thought he ‘may simply get a telling off’ if colleagues discovered about his actions, Birmingham Crown Courtroom was instructed.

Collins’ defence barrister, Kelly Cyples, insisted her shopper ‘didn't realise that what he was doing was prison’.

She added: ‘He accepts and understands, with the advantage of hindsight, he mustn't have and was not permitted to have a look at different photos past the parameters he had been given for his precise function.

‘There was no malicious intent and the pictures have by no means been proven to anybody else.’

Ms Cyples additionally mentioned Collins suffered from post-traumatic stress dysfunction because of official work on investigations into youngster abuse.

Family of among the victims within the photos had been instructed what he had executed.

Sentencing, Decide Henderston mentioned: ‘These individuals in fact suffered dreadfully with the lack of their family members.

;To find now that you simply had been wanting (on the photos) for nothing however gratuitous curiosity is an additional grievous insult to them, their reminiscence and their households.

‘The behaviour of this defendant is completely distinctive in my expertise. It is a case which calls out for fast custody.’

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