TWO people who accessed CCTV footage of footballer Emiliano Sala's post-mortem have been warned they face prison.

Sala, 28, had just signed for Cardiff City when the plane he was travelling in crashed into the English Channel, north of Guernsey, on January 21.

His body was recovered on February 6 and a post-mortem examination took place at Holly Tree Lodge Mortuary in Boscombe the following day.

Sherry Bray, 49, was the director of a CCTV company in Chippenham, Wiltshire, which held the out-of-hours contract to monitor the cameras at the mortuary. Today, a court heard she watched the post-mortem live and replayed it the following day.

Bray sent a picture of Sala's body to another person using Facebook Messenger. 

Police launched  an investigation after the graphic image began circulating on social media. This led to officers searching the CCTV company's offices.

Bray also used the CCTV equipment to play the post-mortem examination of another man, grandfather Andrew Victor Latcham, on April 24 last year.

Her employee Christopher Ashford, 62, gained 'unauthorised access' to the mortuary CCTV, and watched Sala's post-mortem six times over a 48-hour period between February 9 and 11.

Both Bray, of Corsham in Wiltshire, and Ashford, of Calne in Wiltshire, appeared at Swindon Crown Court to admit three counts of securing unauthorised access to computer material between February 9 and 11 this year.

Bray also admitted perverting the course of public justice by instructing Ashford to "delete your pics" on February 12, and the next day deleting the post-mortem cameras from the live feed camera facility.

Judge Peter Crabtree warned the pair they may face a prison sentence.

"The starting point is custody undoubtedly in this case. It's extremely serious," the judge said.

The pair were released on bail to appear at the same court on September 20.

Detective Inspector Gemma Vinton, of Wiltshire Police, said: "It has been the two families who have been at the forefront of our minds throughout the investigation; they have been significantly impacted at what was already a difficult and traumatic time for them.

"The actions of Bray and Ashford caused additional unnecessary distress and heartache, and I hope the families will now be able to concentrate on grieving."