Disgraced Essex Police officer jailed for taking pictures of dead women
A serving police officer who thought the rules "didn't apply to him" took pictures of the bodies of two women, road crash victims, prisoners and a missing girl, and shared them with his partner and brother, a court heard.
"Self-obsessed" former PC Russell Hinkins, who worked for Essex Police, exploited other people's tragedies "to be part of his story", Chelmsford Crown Court was told.
Hinkins, who resigned from the force in March 2023, was jailed for four years for misconduct in a public office from 2017 to 2020, accessing unauthorised material and sharing unlawfully obtained data from police systems.
The 43-year-old, of Haverhill in Suffolk, also shared sensitive details about a state visit to the UK by former US President Donald Trump.
Hinkins was charged after counter-corruption officers in Essex found he had been sharing the material via his personal phone.
He photographed the bodies of two women in Harlow, one who had died after living with epilepsy and another who had taken her own life.
Prosecutor Liam Gregory said Hinkins had served with Essex Police from January 2015 to March 2023.
In that time, he sent "sensitive information, documents and photographs to his partner at the time and his brother Alex Hinkins", using an unsecured email address.
Among the images Hinkins sent were "photographs of two deceased women" said Mr Gregory.
“There was also what the crown say is a sensitive security breach where he relayed information about the visit of the President of the United States. An unsecured email address to his partner and brother. He did this to brag and show off to others.
"[The sentencing judge] described the defendant as arrogant and a somewhat self-obsessed man who does not bow to the same code of conduct as others were. The prosecution say he has done what he has done not caring about the potential impact on others but essentially making other people’s tragedy as part of his own story.”
The court heard details of Hinkins' offences:
Hinkins took photographs of a prisoner and made abusive comments on 12 February 2017;
On September 3 that year he sent pictures of a man's injuries after a he was hurt with a bottle in a pub fight to his partner and brother;
He also sent pictures of another prisoner when he should not have been on his phone as he was conducting a suicide watch, even admitting so his partner on the phone;
On Christmas Day 2017, he sent pictures of his work screen showing police callouts to domestic abuse cases.
In 2018, he attended a crash in Essex and sent pictures of the person involved who was being cut free from a vehicle.
In 2019, Hinkins also took “inappropriate” pictures of a vulnerable girl aged 13 at the time who later went missing.
The court also heard from a female victim of coercive and controlling behaviour who made multiple complaints about Hinkins' comments and behaviour when he was investigating her case.
Hinkins took pictures of two dead women in separate incidents.
In the first, he attended the death of a 25-year-old woman and took pictures of her for "non-evidential reasons" and then sent them to his brother, discussing how she had died.
Hinkins claimed he was instructed to take the pictures, but the judge dismissed this.
In the second incident, he took pictures of the body of a 38-year-old mother of three who had taken her own life, along with pictures of a note she had left, and shared them with his partner and brother.
Judge Mary Loram said Hinkins had taken another family's tragedy "to manipulate his own girlfriend into feeling sorry for him".
He also shared details of the death of a six-week-old baby with his then-partner and brother.
In mitigation, Fiona McAddy said Hinkins had "genuine remorse" for his actions and accepted he would be going to jail.
Sentencing Hinkins, Judge Loram said: "Every time the police officers behave the way you do, betraying the trust of the public, that makes life harder for other officers to serve the public. The betrayal of trust placed to you as a police officer took more than one form."It is severely aggravated by specifical betrayals of individuals. You used those in custody as entertainment for others, victims of assaults and car collisions, but it's also the families of two victims who tragically died."You're someone who believes the rules don't apply to them. This was attention-seeking. When it came to the tragic death of Kelly, you used that to manipulate your partner. You compared Kelly to her. This was an appalling act."
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