The man who was fired from a Quebec morgue last year for "using IT equipment inappropriately" spoke to Radio-Canada about the photos he took of cadavers.

The man, who does not want to be identified, decided to speak to Radio-Canada to reassure worried families.

He said the photos he took — including several dozen of the bodies’ "private parts" — never left the morgue’s office.

He also said he never took inappropriate photos of children.

For the 15 or so years he worked at the Quebec City morgue, the man’s job consisted of providing photographs of cadavers to coroners and to police for their investigations.

Although he knew he was prohibited from doing so, the man in his sixties admitted to Radio-Canada that he began transferring photos from the morgue’s computer system to a USB key.

He said he did that so he could sort through the photographs more quickly, but he also admitted he took photos that he did not file in the morgue’s official photo bank.

He maintained that the photos on his USB key weren’t exclusively of women and children, and that he had just as many photographs of men.

The man was fired in March 2012 after an internal investigation revealed he’d used the morgue’s computers inappropriately.

Chief coroner Louise Nolet said the employee was suspended with pay once the allegation surfaced in October 2011.

Nolet said this morning in a press release that she has asked the Sûreté du Québec to begin an investigation into the ex-employee’s actions.