Two Metropolitan Police officers who took and shared photos of two murdered sisters at a crime scene have been jailed for two years and nine months. Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Jamie Lewis, 33, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office after they photographed the bodies of Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, in a London park in June 2020.
The officers were assigned to guard the scene in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, but instead entered the bushes where the bodies lay and took photos, which they shared in WhatsApp groups. One group, called 'the A team', contained 41 police officers, while another, 'Covid cunts', included friends of Jaffer. The victims were referred to as 'dead birds'.
Judge Mark Lucraft QC described the offences as 'appalling' and done for a 'cheap thrill'. The court heard that the actions stripped the women of dignity in death and intensified the family's agony. The mother of the sisters, Mina Smallman, called it a 'betrayal of such catastrophic proportion' and said it reminded her of lynchings in the Deep South of the USA.
Prosecutor Joel Smith stated that the officers risked contaminating the crime scene by entering the bush, which later aided the defence of the murderer, Danyal Hussein. Hussein, 19, who was obsessed with Satan, was jailed for life for the murders.
Jaffer resigned from the Met in August, while Lewis was sacked by a disciplinary tribunal. Both former officers will serve half their sentence before being released on licence. Speaking outside court, Mina Smallman said she was 'thrilled' the officers were jailed and hopes this will lead to cultural change within the police force.
