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Two Met Police officers jailed for sharing photos of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman

Former PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office for their actions following the sisters' murder in June 2020

Two Metropolitan Police officers who took “utterly distasteful” photos of two murdered sisters and described them as “dead birds” in WhatsApp messages have each been jailed for two years and nine months.

PC Deniz Jaffer and PC Jamie Lewis were deployed to the police cordon in Fryent Country Park near Wembley, north-west London, after the bodies of Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were discovered on 7 June 2020.

The sisters had been stabbed to death the previous day by teenage Satanist Danyal Hussein.

Tasked with preserving the murder scene overnight, Jaffer, 47, and Lewis, 33, instead took unauthorised images of the victims and shared them on WhatsApp alongside misogynistic language.

The pair, who were attached to the North East Command Unit, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office last month.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC said each defendant will serve half their sentence before being released on licence.

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The judge said during the sentencing that the pair  “wholly disregarded the privacy of the two victims of horrific violence and their families for what can only have been some cheap thrill, kudos, a kick or some form of bragging right by taking images and then passing them to others”.  

He continued: “Not only did you violate the privacy of the two women who had been killed, but you also have undermined the trust and faith in police officers the public should be able to expect at times such as these.”

During the hearing at London’s Old Bailey on Monday, the court heard how Jaffer and Lewis’s behaviour “stripped Ms Henry and Ms Smallman of dignity in death”.

Joel Smith, acting for the prosecution, said: “It is almost impossible to conceive of a more serious piece of offending against the background of which these defendants committed their own criminal acts.

“This factor is more weighty given that the offenders were charged with protecting their bodies.”

Jaffer and Lewis, dressed in navy suits and wearing face masks, sat with their heads bowed in the dock as victim impact statements were read out in court.

Sisters Bibaa Henry (left) and Nicole Smallman were killed in an unprovoked knife attack in a north-west London park in June 2020 (Photo: Family Handouts/PA Wire)
Sisters Bibaa Henry (left) and Nicole Smallman were killed in an unprovoked knife attack in a north-west London park in June 2020 (Photo: Family Handouts/PA Wire)

The sisters’ mother, the Venerable Mina Smallman, said Jaffer and Lewis’ offending was a “betrayal of such catastrophic proportions that words cannot convey” that it amounted to a “sacrilegious act”.

She said: “From that moment on I have had flashes…of what I think these images look like. The acts of Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis took any strength we had in reserve.”

Mrs Smallman acknowledged the “pure misogyny” which accompanied the images and referred to the “toxic underground in our police force”.

She said her family was grateful the “test case” was heard at the Old Bailey because they believe it will “send a signal to all those in public office”.

The court was told that Lewis used Snapchat to superimpose a picture of his own face onto the photograph of the bodies and sent it to Jaffer, who forwarded it to a female officer also present at the scene.

Jaffer, a married father of two teenage daughters, showed one of the photos of the victims to a male officer as they left the park.

Lewis also shared photographs he had taken at the crime scene, which did not show the victims, with a WhatsApp group of 41 Metropolitan Police officers called ‘The A Team”.

The Venerable Mina Smallman, the mother of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, said Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis's actions were a 'betrayal of such catastrophic proportions' (Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)
The Venerable Mina Smallman, the mother of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, said Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis’s actions were a ‘betrayal of such catastrophic proportions’ (Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Mr Smith told the court heard how Lewis sent a web link to a newspaper story about the discovery of the sisters’ bodies to the group, adding: “Unfortunately I’m sat next to two dead birds with stab wounds.”

He said Jaffer also sent a link to a newspaper story to another WhatsApp group called “Covid C****”.

In the group made up of five couples who have “known each other for years”, Jaffer wrote: “I’m here now I’ll try to take pictures of the dead birds.”

Neil Saunders, the barrister who represented Jaffer, said in mitigation that his client’s actions were “shameful” and he was sorry for the “pain he has caused the family of these two sisters”.

Mr Saunders continued: “It was never his intention that there should be wider publication; he never intended to go past a few work colleagues and a select number of his close friends.”

Luke Ponte, who acted for Lewis, said his client would feel “lifelong shame” for his offending.

Bibaa Henry (left) and her sister Nicole Smallman are seen in one of the last images taken on Ms Henry’s phone before they were killed (Photo: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)
Bibaa Henry (left) and her sister Nicole Smallman are seen in one of the last images taken on Ms Henry’s phone before they were killed (Photo: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)

Mr Ponte continued: “Shortly and simply, he did not disseminate images of the bodies save for one exception; he sent back to Deniz Jaffer the image [of the landscape] with his face superimposed. He did not send the two images he took to anyone else.”

A disciplinary tribunal held by the Met in November found their actions amounted to gross misconduct and Lewis, a father of two children aged four and seven from Colchester, Essex, was dismissed without notice.

Jaffer, of Hornchurch, east London, resigned from the force in August and is said to be retraining as an electrician. The panel said had he been a serving officer he too would have been dismissed without notice.

Ms Henry, a senior social worker, and Ms Smallman, a photographer, spent their final hours enjoying a picnic friends to celebrate Ms Henry’s 46th birthday.

As darkness fell and guests said their goodbyes, the siblings stayed in the park – where they danced and took photos with fairy lights.

But Danyal Hussein, unknown to them, was lying in wait.

Jurors were told how Hussein, who turned 18 one month before the attack, signed a blood pact with a demon pledging to “sacrifice” at least six women every six months in exchange for a series of lottery wins.

The sisters were stabbed to death with “severe force” during the unprovoked attack shortly after 1am on 6 June last year, a court heard.

Ms Smallman’s boyfriend discovered their bodies in undergrowth in the park the following day.

Hussein, of Blackheath, south-east London, denied any involvement in the murders but was identified through DNA after sustaining cuts from Ms Smallman as she fought to save her life.

He declined to give evidence at trial and was found guilty of two counts of murder and possession of a knife with intent at the Old Bailey in July. In October he was jailed for life with a minimum sentence of 35 years.

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