This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Police are investigating how mortuary photographs of the body of footballer Emiliano Sala were circulated online three months after he was killed in a plane crash in the Channel.

The images were posted on Twitter several weeks ago before being quickly removed. They purported to show the Argentinian’s remains at Bournemouth public mortuary.

News of the photographs comes at a particularly difficult time for Sala’s family. His 58-year-old father, Horatio, died last week, and was said by friends of the family to have never got over the death of his son.

Dorset police expressed its disgust at the circulation of the images and confirmed they had launched an investigation.

Sala, who had just signed for Cardiff City, disappeared with David Ibbotson, the pilot of the Piper Malibu, after it crashed in waters north of Guernsey on 21 January. Sala’s body was found in the wreckage two weeks later.

A Dorset police spokesman said: “We are aware that a picture reported to be of Mr Sala’s body has been shared on social media channels and are disgusted that somebody did this. It is clearly a very difficult time for Mr Sala’s family and they should not have to endure additional pain that this shameful act will undoubtedly cause.”

He added: “We are investigating this incident and are working together with a number of agencies to establish how the picture was taken and who is responsible.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset police.

The spokesman refused to comment on speculation that the mortuary photographs had been taken after a break-in.

Sala had been flying to his first training session at Cardiff after completing a £15m club record move from the French club Nantes, when the plane crashed.

The body of Ibbotson, from Crowle, North Lincolnshire, has not been found.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is still examining why the plane crashed. A preliminary investigation found the plane fell thousands of feet in the space of 20 seconds after making a 180-degree turn.