Two Metropolitan Police officers have been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for taking and sharing photographs of two murdered sisters at a crime scene in London. 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 Fryent Country Park in June 2020.
The Old Bailey heard that the officers, who were assigned to guard the scene, instead entered the bushes where the bodies lay, took photos, and shared them in WhatsApp groups. In one group, they referred to the victims as “dead birds”. The judge, Mark Lucraft QC, described their actions as “appalling” and done for a “cheap thrill”.
The court was told that the officers’ actions stripped the women of dignity in death and intensified the family’s grief. The mother of the victims, Mina Smallman, described it as a “betrayal of catastrophic proportion” and said the officers “dehumanised” her children. She also raised concerns about racism within the force.
Prosecutor Joel Smith stated that the officers risked contaminating the crime scene, which was later used by the defence of the murderer, Danyal Hussein, to argue potential evidence tampering. Hussein 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.
