THOSE who shared a photograph online of drowned football ace Emiliano Sala could have been committing an offence, police have said.

It came as two people pleaded guilty at Swindon Crown Court to illegally accessing the CCTV network at the Bournemouth mortuary where the Argentinian footballer’s post-mortem was being carried out.

The senior investigating officer on that case, Det Insp Gemma Vinton of Wiltshire Police’s digital investigations unit, would not say if those who shared the images of Mr Sala on social media could face an early knock at the door from detectives.

However, asked if sharing the images would be considered a crime, Ms Vinton said: “It would be deemed to be grossly offensive done from the UK.”

Swindon Crown Court this morning heard Sherry Bray was director at Chippenham firm Camera Security Limited, which held the contract to provide out-of-hours CCTV cover at the Bournemouth mortuary where Emiliano Sala’s post-mortem was being held.

The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of computer misuse and perverting the course of justice and computer misuse. Co-defendant Christopher Ashford, 62, of Page Close, Calne, admitted three counts of computer misuse.

Both Bray and Ashford had illegally accessed the CCTV of the post-mortem. Bray had taken photographs of the footage on her mobile phone.

She then sent a picture to another person using Facebook Messenger and subsequently attempted to hide evidence, encouraging Ashford to delete pictures he had taken.

Bray also looked at the post-mortem of Dorset pensioner Andrew Latcham, who died last year.

Asked whether that offence would ever have come to light were it not for the furore created when the images of Emiliano were shared, Ms Vinton said: “We can only investigate crimes that are reported to us.”