Police officers 'shared images of person who died by suicide' - Warning: graphic descriptions

[MNettersForNoahAndFiona]

Warning: graphic descriptions follow, in BBC News article and BBC video interview with the family:

Two NI police officers have been investigated for more than three years over allegations they manipulated a person who died by suicide's body and shared photos and a video online.

One of the officers has been suspended with full pay while the Police Ombudsman investigates. It is part of a wider investigation encompassing 11 separate but related incidents spanning several years. There are multiple suspects, including police officers and civilians, in Northern Ireland as well as in England. The investigation is looking at a range of possible offences including misconduct, harassment and the suspected supply of drugs.

The allegations around the two Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers are harrowing. The police officers asked the family to leave the room. The victim's body was moved around the room and posed for photographs and a video. His trousers were taken down and his genitalia exposed for one of the photographs. The images were then photoshopped with speech bubbles mocking the victim, including using a derogatory term for his religion and shared.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62012268

The victim died in 2017 in Belfast. That is five years ago and still the police (PSNI) have not charged these sick and callous individuals. Only 30 hours of interviews have taken place in 5 years. When two disgraceful Met police officers similarly shared images of the bodies of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, they were quite rightly prosecuted and sent to prison - even by the Met.

The BBC recently broadcast interviews with two Police Service of Northern Ireland whistleblowers speaking publicly for the first time about serious allegations of misconduct and negligence within the PSNI:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017yyn

Some Mumsnetters will have also seen my threads and those of others about the death and disappearance of young Noah Donohoe, also in Belfast, in 2020. After he had been missing for 6 days, Noah's naked body was retrieved from a drain. Two years later, his mother Fiona is still having to fight for the truth about her son's death and for justice for him. It is the same police force: the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and the same Chief Constable: Simon Byrne.
Here is a factual and reliable pinned Twitter thread for people new to Noah's story or wanting to know more:
mobile.twitter.com/MarymoBelfast/status/1370453351616425985
Here is Fiona's podcast:

Here is a Channel 4 News report: www.channel4.com/news/noah-donohoe-family-seek-answers-over-belfast-teenagers-death And please do sign Fiona's petition if you haven't already: www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4573833-noah-donohoe-his-mothers-fight-for-the-truth-and-justice-please-help-stop-the-police-coroner-and-brandon-lewis-from-keeping-investigation-files-into-the-death-of-a-child-secret-thread-3?

These are only three examples of many serious failings from the PSNI. Victims' families have lost trust in them. Decent, whistleblowing officers have lost trust in them. The Metropolitan Police have recently been put into special measures for their failings. AIBU to believe that the same must happen with the lazy, corrupt, incompetent, racist and bigoted PSNI?

I'd love whoever voted that you were unreasonable to come and explain why.
Yes. I did wonder whether or not to enable voting, because it allows people to give their opinion of that sort by voting but then not post, and so hide behind that.

Perhaps some voters are of that awful mindset themselves or perhaps they think that this is the way the police are and so why make a thread about it, just accept it - but I can't accept that.

Just last night I said to my DD 'if you ever end up under arrest for any reason, do not say anything to the police without a legal representative in the room with you.'
She is very unlikely to be arrested but I still feel the need to warn her against putting faith in them.
And I would apply that to every police force that exists.
So @MNettersForNoahAndFiona you are not being unreasonable at all.

And in Noah's case - although this thread isn't just about Noah, obviously, but he is just as important - the racist angle too, both individual and institutional.

There is no longer anything that can surprise me about the conduct of members of the police force.

I think the nature of the job - the power for a start, attracts a disproportionately large number of psychopaths and I think the police force should start screening them out.

It's not suddenly an issue for me. I've known about it on an increasing level since Infant school and being a parent has brought it into even sharper focus.

What the hell have I just read?
Jesus, could the police stoop any lower? I just don't understand anymore, I despair I really do.

(I do try to keep up to date with Noah's case and hope his poor mother gets some answers/justice soon).

Absolutely disgusting. Hopefully the investigation can be concluded soon so they can name and shame.

This is the PSNI's Chief Constable, Simon Byrne. He was only appointed in 2019. He was previously with the Met, Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester Police. He was suspended, investigated, cleared and moved to the PSNI from Cheshire after complaints including of bullying and humiliating staff over three years. The last Chief Constable was moved to the Republic of Ireland in similar circumstances.

When I read the comments from Simon Byrne in the BBC report about the abhorrent treatment of the body of this person - and therefore the abhorrent treatment of this person's family - I did not believe him. I have heard him say similar placating, nothing-to-see-here things to Fiona, Noah's mother, and about Noah's case in the media and to the Policing Board when questioned about Noah's case. The PSNI's behaviour in Noah's case and treatment of Fiona has been shocking, akin to torture, and so I am unsurprised by the reports of these officers' behaviour towards this person's body and the slow PSNI response to it.

I have also heard Simon Byrne make the right noises about other complaints. His words do not ring true anymore. Nothing changes.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-58799870
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51026039
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/39-psni-officers-quizzed-over-sexual-misconduct-claims-in-last-five-years-40917207.html
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/concern-as-complaints-against-psni-rise-by-over-30-in-the-space-of-a-year-40980438.html
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59165873

5-6 years is about a standard wait tbh.

You have to wonder - well, you don't have to wonder anymore, really - what kind of training, vetting and culture exists in the PSNI for officers like this to even exist in it?

Those that speak up to challenge it are subjected to false allegations, isolation, bullying and harassment. Just look at the two officers who blew the whistle in Coleraine. I linked to this BBC report in the OP but will add it again here:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017yyn

I can understand this. As the mother of sons too I have to fight against it though. And as a woman and a mother, one thing I found particularly hard to hear, was that at least two women - mothers - say they saw Noah - a child, naked - in their street and they did nothing to help him.

I should add that it was a light and sunny Sunday evening, just after 6pm. They both, separately said that they 'dismissed it as a Father's Day prank'.

What a strange comment.

Pleased to hear it but I think this is a rather more than 'police officers aren't trustworthy' - have you read what the police officers did to the body of this person? Have you watched the BBC interview with the man's family? Have you watched Fiona's podcast, the C4 news report or read the pinned Twitter thread about Noah's story? Have you watched the BBC report with the whistleblowing officers? If you haven't, then perhaps you will and come back and comment again. There are other threads if not. This may not be newsworthy to you, but I have to differ.

Fuck the police. Seriously.

Yes - and not just at the point of arrest @IdiotCreatures - at the point of any contact with them, as the three situations in my OP and many other examples we all know about show.

I felt the same. I know we'd like to be able to think that it's just 'a few bad apples' and they'd certainly like us to think that, but it goes way beyond that. It seems like we're lucky to come across a few good apples in a whole box. And it's the depths to which they sink.

(Thank you @RichardOsmansXraySpecs 💙)

Suspended on full pay for two years!?

That's a reward, not a punishment.

It's depressing but it seems like this is suddenly an issue because the police are targeting white people. Black people have known about this for about 60 years.

As have the Catholic community in NI for over 1 hundred years.

In light of the documentaries "murder in the badlands" and all the other absolute atrocities over the years the psni have a lot to answer for.

Their predecessors the RUC would arrest Catholic lads and dump them in Protestant areas for a good beating.

I hadn't heard of this case either involving the young man in the OP.

Fucking deplorable behaviour.

How do they get away with their obvious disregard for 50% of the population.

Please sign Noah's petition regardless of your view "That's police for you".
Without people standing together things won't change.

No, because that is a ridiculous sweeping statement.

This is HORRENDOUS.

Although, we'd only just got back to not police bashing after BLM. They're a profession, not a stereotype.

It's chillingly awful but certainly not typical of the average hard working and decent police officer.
I'd really like to know why the most scrutinized police force in the world has taken so long to deal with this and would question the role of our hugely expensive policing board.

Also, OP, your cause seems to be Noah -

why the story which is irrelevant?