Police are investigating after ZBM broadcast pictures of the bodies at Abbot?s Cliff.

The graphic images showed close-ups of greying corpse flesh with flies resting on it and shots of a dead man still in his sneakers.

Police spokesman Robin Simmons said: ?Police are investigating how photos of what appear to be the crime scene were released to the media.?

The possibility that the photos were taken and leaked by Police or other emergency personnel at the scene is being looked at as it took officers more than 30 hours to reach the bodies which were lodged on a ledge half-way down a sheer cliff.

The area had been cordoned off with up to ten armed officers involved and countless other unarmed personnel stationed around the area.

However the area is well known to the criminal underworld who use it as a dumping ground for stolen and stripped bikes so other routes could have been used which the Police don?t know about.

ZBM said the photos were brought to them, but Bermuda Broadcasting Company chief executive officer Rick Richardson did not return a call from yesterday.

This paper had has just one caller complain about the shots.

The woman, who would not give her name, said: ?I don?t see the news value of showing them. It would be very disturbing and upsetting to friends and family of the pair. I called ZBM and lodged a complaint but they seemed pretty indifferent. I saw a fly sitting on the corpse and boxer shorts. It?s too much.?

One photographer told the photos were taken in daylight as there was no evidence of a flash while a tarpaulin indicates they were taken after Police had reached the scene.

Pictures taken using a digital camera will reveal when they were taken and by which camera ? giving Police some pointers should they wish to subpoena the pictures. It marks the second time in the investigation into the missing Cooper twins that a crime scene has been breached.

Soon after the probe began arsonists attacked the Crown Hill, Devonshire home where forensics experts had been gathering evidence from blood spills in the storage room.

It led Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith to promise tighter security with armed Police staking out the perimeter of the Abbot?s Cliff surrounds.

Last night Chief Inspector Andrew Boyce, who is leading the investigation, refused to be drawn on the latest apparent security lapse. But Government MP and former top Policeman Wayne Perinchief condemned the reckless breach of a crime scene which he said could jeopardise vital evidence. And the former Assistant Commissioner called for those responsible to be prosecuted. Mr. Perinchief said: ?Preserving the crime scene is crucial to proceedings. It is vital people don?t contaminate the scene.? Even when the body is recovered is still vital to preserve the surrounding area said Mr. Perinchief who said when the forensic specialists look at a body they might notice things they need to go back to look for.

?They might want to look for a button torn off the clothing. Maybe it will lead to a trail showing where the body was off loaded, maybe by a vehicle ? even days or weeks later it can still be recoverable.

?I am a bit shocked someone took the photos ? the Police can?t be everywhere and protect it 100 percent ? but I was shocked someone would try to do this.?

He said those responsible should be prosecuted but Mr. Perinchief did not think it was wrong for the TV company to air them. ?The media is going to get hold of whatever it can by whatever means. If they had sent a journalist in I would be critical.?

But he said he had viewed the firebombing of the Devonshire home as a bigger blunder.

However the open topography of Abbot?s Cliff was much harder to guard said Mr. Perinchief.

?You do expect a certain level of responsibility from the public too.? Chief Inspector Boyce said the Abbot?s Cliff site was still being guarded by Police and up to 25 officers were working on the case.