Emiliano Sala: Pair jailed for illegally accessing footage in mortuary

A CCTV company director and her employee have been jailed for illegally accessing footage of footballer Emiliano Sala’s body in the mortuary.

Sala had just signed for Cardiff City when the plane he was travelling in crashed into the English Channel, north of Guernsey, on January 21.

The 28-year-old’s body was recovered on February 6 and a post-mortem examination took place at Bournemouth Borough Mortuary the following day.

Sherry Bray, 49, the director of Camera Security Services Limited in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and her employee Christopher Ashford, 62, accessed footage of the procedure being conducted on Sala.

Bray had sent a message to night worker Ashford before his shift, which said: „There’s a nice one on the table for you to watch when you’re next in.“

Both replayed the clip during separate shifts before Bray took a picture of it on her mobile phone and sent it to her daughter on Facebook Messenger, leading to it being widely shared on social media, Swindon Crown Court heard.

After realising that police were investigating, Bray deleted the file from her phone and asked Ashford to do the same.

Evidence from Bray’s phone also revealed that she had taken a picture of another body in the mortuary, a man called Andrew Latcham who had died in non-suspicious circumstances.

Robert Welling, prosecuting, said Bray had a „pivotal role“ in setting a culture at her workplace where „both she and members of staff would watch as and when autopsies were on the mortuary CCTV footage“.

He added: „A culture had developed whereby it appears in some ways it was actively encouraged.“

Forensic pathologist Dr Basil Purdue said in a statement he was not aware the security cameras in the mortuary were able to film post-mortem examinations, and said had he known they were recording procedures, he would „not allow that to take place“, adding it was a „flagrant breach of medical confidentiality“.

A victim impact statement from Romina Sala, the footballer’s sister, called Bray and Ashford’s actions „wicked and evil“, and said she first found out about the leak when pictures of her brother’s body began appearing on Instagram.

She said: „I cannot believe there are people so wicked and evil who could do that.

„I’ll never erase those images from my head. My brother and mother can never forget about this. It’s hard for me to live with this image.“

Latcham’s son, Richard Latcham, directed his words to Bray in his statement, saying: „Is nothing sacred? Why would you do such a thing? Such a cruel and unnecessary act.“

He said the incident had cost him £5,400 in loss of earnings and counselling sessions.

Bray, of Corsham, and Ashford, of Calne, each admitted three counts of computer misuse at Swindon Crown Court in August.

Bray also admitted perverting the course of justice by instructing Ashford to „delete your pics“, deleting the post-mortem cameras from the live feed camera facility and deleting the mortuary image of Sala from her phone.

Nicholas Cotter, defending Bray, said Camera Security Services Limited, which had a turnover of £1.2m last year and employs around 20 people, became director when her father, who started the business, died.

Mr Cotter said: „She fully accepts the distress and upset she’s caused. She does not walk away from that for one second.

„It was never her intention for these photos to be put in the public sphere. She did not intend to cause harm in this case.

„She should have known better. But she looked in Pandora’s box.“

Thomas Horder, defending Ashford, said the grandfather of four has since had his employment terminated by the company, calling his actions the „biggest mistake he has ever made“.

Mr Horder added: „Not only is he deeply sorry and remorseful, but someone who is devastated and ashamed of his actions.

„He did not intend at any point to cause harm to anyone.“

Judge Peter Crabtree jailed Bray for 14 months and Ashford for five months.

He told them: „You were both driven by morbid curiosity.

„You have both abused your positions in quite an appalling way.“

Wiltshire Police previously said that Sala’s family, who live in Argentina, had been kept fully updated during the investigation.

Detective Inspector Gemma Vinton described how they had been „significantly impacted at what was already a difficult and traumatic time for them“.

The Crown Prosecution Service described the actions of Bray and Ashford as „truly appalling“.

Passing sentence, Judge Crabtree said: „Let me also make it clear, and I would want no confusion about this, that I am not sentencing either of you on the basis that you circulated the image of Mr Sala using WhatsApp which was subsequently posted on Twitter, and also published onto other websites.

„None of these offences relate directly to that serious offence, and it is not suggested by the prosecution that either of you took that photograph or circulated it.

„So far as culpability is concerned, I accept that neither of you committed the offences you have pleaded guilty to as a consequence of any financial motive, but rather were driven by morbid curiosity and, in your case, Mr Ashford, by your interest in forensic science.

„None of these offences were sophisticated, nor did they involved any degree of significant planning.“

Soccer Accumulator Bonus

Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.

This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.

The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.

If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:

Bet Type Bonus

14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.

If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.

If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.

Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.

In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.

All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.

.