The misconduct hearing heard that Manning was sent to an assisted residence for elderly people in Dalston, east London, where he and other officers discovered a resident who had died “some days or weeks earlier”.
PC Zak Malik took photos of the dead man on his personal phone and sent them to Manning on WhatsApp.
Malik sent the images so he could reduce the file size and upload them to the Met’s system, the hearing was told.
Manning deleted the photos from his iPhone library but did not delete them from his WhatsApp.
When Malik realised the photo was still on WhatsApp and warned Manning, he replied with three laughing face emojis.
At a training course at a Shoreditch police station the following year, Manning was discussing “difficult situations” with fellow officers and decided to show them the photo of the dead man, saying: “I’ve been to a bad one, I will show you the picture.”
Two officers “felt very uncomfortable” and reported him.
Manning was then arrested and his mobile was seized. Other pictures were found relating to victims, suspects and evidence. He claimed what he did was “common practice”.
It was also discovered that he was the creator of a WhatsApp group called “Away Days” containing sexist, homophobic, ableist and transphobic content.
