Ryan Connolly, 41, of Court Hey Road in Roby/Huyton, Merseyside, is a former Merseyside Police constable. Court proceedings occurred at Manchester Crown Court. Connolly was charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office between 2014 and 2020.
' The prosecution also alleged Connolly took two dozen photographs of people under arrest or detained at hospitals and mental health premises. Furthermore, the prosecution alleged Connolly took images of internal police systems showing suspects and incident logs, and pictures of colleagues. More than 50 photos were found in the sent folder of WhatsApp on Connolly's personal phone when he was arrested in February 2020.
However, Judge Nicholas Dean KC directed the jury to find Connolly not guilty of all misconduct charges. Judge Dean ruled the prosecution's evidence could not demonstrate serious misconduct, as there was no evidence of who the images were sent to (except one photo sent to a supervising officer) or the motivation for taking them. Judge Dean noted the case lacked context.
Connolly claimed the images were for legitimate policing purposes due to device limitations. The specific motivation for Connolly taking the photographs alleged in the misconduct charges has not been determined, and it remains unclear who, besides the supervising officer, he sent them to. Despite the acquittal on misconduct, Connolly pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing extreme pornography.
The extreme pornography charges relate to videos found in Connolly's WhatsApp sent folder. Prosecutors stated two videos showed sexual acts involving an eel and a white rat, and a third showed someone causing serious injury to their own genitalia. ' Judge Dean noted it was unclear how Connolly obtained the extreme pornography videos but likely through a WhatsApp group.
Connolly denied knowledge or recollection of the extreme pornography videos. How exactly Connolly obtained the extreme pornography videos found on his phone is not fully known. For the extreme pornography offenses, Connolly was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, with 80 hours of unpaid work and a 10-year sex offender notification requirement.
Judge Dean cited the long delay since Connolly's 2021 guilty plea as a reason for not imposing immediate prison. Connolly was formally dismissed from Merseyside Police following a gross misconduct hearing. The full details and outcomes of that gross misconduct hearing have not been disclosed.
The case highlights complexities in prosecuting police misconduct and the legal handling of extreme material, with Connolly's defense citing operational needs while the judge emphasized evidentiary gaps.