Metropolitan Police officer who sent ‘appalling’ pornographic photo of two men having sex with a woman’s decapitated body to a colleague ‘for banter’ is jailed for 42 weeks
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
- PC Liam Boshein, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is jailed for sharing sick image
- The 25-year-old’s mother wept in court has a judge sentenced him to 42 weeks
A Metropolitan Police officer who sent a sickening pornographic photo of two men having sex with a woman’s decapitated body to a colleague has been jailed.
Police Constable Liam Boshein sent the ‘appalling’ extreme image of a corpse to the male fellow trainee as a form of ‘banter’, a court heard.
The 25-year-old’s conduct was said to fall into a wider ‘culture’ within the Met of officers looking to ‘impress each other’ by sharing grossly offensive images and is the latest scandal to rock Scotland Yard.
Boshein, whose father is also a police officer, was today jailed for 42 weeks after admitting being in possession of the ‘grossly offensive’ image, which the Crown Prosecution Service labelled as ‘frankly repulsive’.
Judge Timothy Mousley KC said ‘a sentence of imprisonment is unavoidable’, adding: ‘You were a serving police officer and that of course is a very serious aggravating feature.’
Boshein (pictured right in the mask) has since left the police force. He admitted being in possession of the ‘grossly offensive’ image, which the Crown Prosecution Service labelled as ‘frankly repulsive’
The shamed PC, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty last month to committing the offence between November 7 2019 and April 4 2021.
Prosecuting, Tim Devlin described the image, and said it had been shared with fellow trainee officer Mark Hamilton in November 2019.
The court heard the images were found when Hampshire police examined Boshein’s phone as part of another investigation.
In a message to the trainee officer, Boshein was heard to have written ‘still not as bad as the pregnant bird’ in which a woman giving birth was seen alongside an erect penis.
Mr Devlin continued: ‘There seems to have been an element of banter between Boshein and Hamilton.’
The court heard that when interviewed by police, Boshein claimed he had ‘no recollection’ of the picture and ‘would not have kept it’.
He also said he was ‘shocked’ at seeing the photo and had not been ‘sexually aroused’ by it.
Mr Devlin told the court the offence occurred after Boshein was finally accepted to joining the police force, on his third attempt.
‘He had now joined and was undergoing training and must have been mindful of the standard of conduct which fell to him as an officer of the police.’
Mr Devlin said the conduct was ‘really concerning’ given ‘recent cases of Met police officers’, citing the imprisonment of PC Jonathon Cobban and former PC Joel Borders in November last year in relation to a WhatsApp group with disgraced Wayne Couzens.
‘You have to look at this in the context of the culture which appears to have arisen in the Met, where people think it is acceptable to share this sort of thing in order to impress each other.’
In mitigation, Ryan Dowding said while the photo and surrounding messages and were ‘unacceptable’, there had been ‘no sexual gratification’.
Mr Dowding added it was the only image out of 296,000 found on Boshein’s devices that was pornographic and that time in prison would further damage his ‘fragile’ mental health.
The court heard Boshein had made a suicide attempt, been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and was taking medication for both.
Offering an apology on behalf of the disgraced PC, Mr Dowding said: ‘He has shown contrition and remorse and was a 22-year-old, immature young man at the time.
‘This was not an image out of which any party involved gained any sexual gratification. It was sent out of morbid curiosity.’
Boshein did not get any sexual gratification from the image, which showed the decapitated head of a woman being violated by two men. Instead, the court heard the image was ‘sent out of morbid curiosity’. Boshein, right, is pictured outside Portsmouth Crown Court
Addressing Boshein, Judge Timothy Mousley KC said: ‘I have come to the view the it a serious offence.
‘It is undoubtedly a grossly offensive image.
‘As you know one of the most serious aspects of this offence is the fact you forwarded the image on.
‘You were a serving police officer and that is of course a serious aggravating factor. My conclusion is the only appropriate punishment can by achieved by immediate custody.’
Boshein’s mother wept in court as he was sentenced to 42 weeks imprisonment, half of which he will serve before being released.
Boshein had already resigned from the police force after being put on restricted duties after the investigation was taking place.
A Met Police spokesman confirmed on an earlier occasion that Boshein had been suspended from his post with the South Area Command Unit and the force’s directorate of professional standards was aware of the case.
Ruth Sands, Wessex senior crown prosecutor, said after the sentencing: ‘The image found on Liam Boshein’s phone was frankly repulsive and certainly not something that the public would expect a police officer to have in his possession.
‘The public rightly expects police officers to act with integrity and to uphold the law to keep our communities safe.
‘We will continue to prosecute anyone who commits a criminal offence whenever our legal test is met.’
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