A CCTV company director and her employee who illegally accessed footage of footballer Emiliano Sala's body in a mortuary will be sentenced on Monday.

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

His body was recovered and brought to Portland Port on February 6, and a post-mortem examination took place at Holly Tree Lodge Mortuary in Bournemouth the following day.

Sherry Bray and Christopher Ashford worked for Chippenham-based Camera Security Services when they screened the post-mortem of the 28-year-old footballer.

Romina Sala said her family was left devastated after images of her brother's body began to leak on to Instagram just days after being recovered from the English Channel.

A victim impact statement from Argentina-based Ms Sala was read to Swindon Crown Court today.

Ms Sala said: "I have seen photos of Emiliano's body leaked on Instagram, and I cannot believe there are people so wicked and evil who could do that.

"I phoned Emiliano's agent and told him what was circulating on the internet. I called our brother, Dario, and he did not want to see the photos.

"I tried to keep images off social networks. My mother could not see those horrible photos.

"I was sad as people were making jokes about it.

"I'll never erase the images from my head. My brother and mother can never forget about this.

"It's hard for me to live with this image."

Judge Peter Crabtree adjourned the case to Monday afternoon, telling the two defendants he wanted the weekend to consider the sentence.

The court heard that CSS director Bray opened Pandora’s Box when she watched the autopsy of football ace Emiliano Sala.

Bray was accused of presiding over a culture at Camera Security Services Ltd where workers routinely watched post-mortem investigations.

The 49-year-old, of Charles Street, Corsham, admitted three counts under the Computer Misuse Act and a charge of perverting the course of justice by instructing Ashford to “delete your pics”, deleting images herself and deleting footage from CSS’s systems.

The case will be heard on Monday at 2pm.