Metropolitan Police officers have admitted sharing photos of the bodies of two murdered sisters on WhatsApp.
Pc Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Pc Jamie Lewis, 33, have pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to misconduct in a public office after they shared photos of the bodies of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.
The two officers were assigned to protect the scene after Bibaa, 46, and Nicole, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park in Wembley, north-west London.
Instead, they breached the cordon to take “inappropriate” and “unauthorised” photographs of the bodies, which were then shared on WhatsApp.
Jaffer took four photographs and Lewis took two and one of the images sent to a female colleague had Lewis’s face superimposed onto it, it can now be reported.
Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman
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At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, the officers admitted committing misconduct in a public office between June 7 and June 23 last year.
Jaffer, 47, of Hornchurch, east London, and Lewis, 33, from Colchester, Essex, had been arrested as part of a criminal investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog.
The charge against each of them stated that “without authorisation he entered a crime scene he had been assigned to protect, sending information about his attendance at the scene to members of the public via WhatsApp and taking photographs of the crime scene”.
The pair, who were attached to the Met’s North East command unit, were both suspended from duty following their arrests on June 22 last year and granted unconditional court bail.
The sisters’ mother Mina Smallman, who has described the officers as “despicable”, sat in court for the hearing.
She called on the Metropolitan Police to “get the rot out once and for all”.
Pc Deniz Jaffer arriving at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London, for an earlier hearing
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Speaking outside the Old Bailey, she said: “You need to drill down and get the rot out once and for all.
“You are not above the law, you are not going to be protected.”
Asked if Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick should resign, Mrs Smallman said: “All along I have said I do not think it is the right thing to do.
“Kicking people out does not fix the problem. Keep her in the position and get her to do the job.”
Mrs Smallman called for the police watchdog to have more powers to investigate, saying the IOPC had “no teeth”.
Speaking about the impact of the misconduct case, she said: “It may seem really ridiculous that this case has brought us to even more anxiety today.”
Pc Jamie Lewis arriving at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London, for an earlier hearing
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She said it had been the “final straw” to find out what Pc Deniz Jaffer and Pc Jamie Lewis had done while preparing for the funeral of her daughters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.
She added: “You go to London to start to prepare for the funeral of your two children and you are forced to have a meeting with the IOPC’s then commander to tell you that police officers that should have been protecting the area had actually taken selfies and sent them out to a dentist and doctor and a WhatsApp group.”
Last week, Satanist Danyal Hussein, 19, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years for murdering Ms Henry and Ms Smallman.
During Hussein’s trial, Mrs Justice Whipple had banned reporting of details about the behaviour of Jaffer and Lewis, who were referred to only as Pc 1 and Pc 2.
The jury had heard that the victims had been celebrating Ms Henry’s birthday when they were viciously stabbed by Hussein.
Hussein had then dragged their bodies into bushes and left them with their limbs entwined in a deliberate act to defile them in death.
Danyal Hussein was found guilty at the Old Bailey of the murders of sisters Bibaa and Nicole
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Some 36 hours later, the sisters were found by Ms Smallman’s distraught boyfriend, Adam Stone, 35, after he became concerned when she failed to return home.
As police began the painstaking process of searching the park for forensic evidence, the sisters’ bodies were left in the small copse overnight.
The jury was shown pictures taken by Pc Jaffer early on June 8 of the bodies inside the bushy area where they were found.
Throughout the trial, images of the bodies in situ had been blacked out before being shown in court.
It can now be reported that Jaffer and Lewis were assigned to guard the deposition site on June 8 last year.
They arrived at 3.30am and were placed at the inner cordon closest to the bodies.
They were instructed to remain at their posts and maintain the integrity of the scene.
Pc Deniz Jaffer arrives at the Old Bailey in London on November 2
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But a female colleague – identified only as Pc 3 – saw them walking backwards and forwards to talk to each other.
Pc 3 was then approached by the defendants, who told her that the victims’ bodies were inside a bush close to where one of them had been standing.
A while later, the female officer received a WhatsApp message from Jaffer – Pc 1 – containing four photographs of the bodies.
One of the images had the face of Lewis – Pc 2 – superimposed on it.
Jurors were told that the images were subsequently circulated by both defendants.
The court heard that the bodies would not have been visible from the path next to the bushes so, in order to take the photos, the officers would have had to move from their posts.
Neither officer was wearing protective clothing that night.
Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27
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Following their arrest, samples of the officers’ DNA were taken and found not to match any outstanding samples.
Jurors were told their DNA were not compared with the DNA findings at the deposition site as there was no unknown male DNA found in the area.
Blood and DNA from the bodies and surrounding area led investigators to Hussein, who was also caught on CCTV buying the murder weapon and coming and going from the park.
A search of his bedroom revealed he had made a bizarre blood pact with a demon to “sacrifice” six women in six months in order to win the lottery.
Despite the weight of evidence against him, Hussein denied being involved in the killings.
Mina Smallman, the mother of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry
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His defence team had called into question the two officers’ actions as they examined whether the incriminating DNA evidence could have been contaminated.
But, in his closing speech, prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC rejected any suggestion that the bodies were touched or interfered with in any way by the officers.
He told jurors: “The only police officers about who you should have any hesitations are Pcs 1 and 2, whose behaviour in leaving the cordon and in taking and sharing photographs of Bibaa and Nicole was despicable.
“It is no part of the Crown’s case to defend them for what they did: they have been charged and, if convicted, they will never wear a police uniform ever again.
“But their disgusting lack of respect does not mean that you are entitled to conclude that they contaminated the crime scene or that the swabs taken from Bibaa and Nicole’s ankles are in some way compromised.”
He said the photographs were taken from some distance away and any suggestion that the bodies were touched was “utterly groundless”.
The victims’ mother, Mina Smallman, condemned the officers as “Despicable 1 and Despicable 2”.
She said: “Our family’s grief was further compounded by the cordon officers who will now be known as Despicable 1 and 2 – any inner strength I had reserved had been torn away.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-police-officers-admit-sharing-25355552
