September 24 – Two people who illegally accessed CCTV footage of Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala’s post-mortem examination and who were “driven by morbid curiosity” have been jailed.
The light aircraft carrying the striker from France crashed into the English Channel on January 21 en route to Cardiff City for whom he had just signed, killing the 28-year-old and his pilot.
Sherry Bray, a CCTV company director and Christopher Ashford, her employee, accessed mortuary cameras and watched the examination on February 7, court officials heard.
Bray and Ashford took screenshots of the post-mortem footage and images which then spread across Twitter and Instagram. One was seen by Romina Sala, the footballer’s sister.
After realising police were investigating the case, Bray deleted the file from her phone and asked Ashford to do the same.
“I cannot believe there are people so wicked and evil who could do that,” Romina Sala said in a victim impact statement.
Bray was jailed for 14 months and Ashford for five. The judge said that the pair had shown the “greatest of disrespect” to Sala’s family and caused them “considerable distress”.
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