‘Get the rot out once and for all’: Mother’s anger as Met PCs admit sharing photos of murdered sisters’ bodies
Two Metropolitan Police officers have pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office after sharing photos of the bodies of two murdered sisters on WhatsApp.
PC Deniz Jaffer 47, and PC Jamie Lewis, 33, appeared before Judge Mark Lucraft at the Old Bailey on Tuesday morning charged with committing misconduct in a public office between 7 June and 23 June last year.
The officers had been assigned to protect the scene in Wembley’s Fryent County Park after sisters Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes.
Bibaa Henry (L) and Nicole Smallman, in a photo from Ms Henry’s phone in Fryent Country Park
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 on to it, it can now be reported.
The pair were later arrested as part of a criminal investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog.
At the hearing, they both admitted to the same charge, which 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, attached to the Metropolitan Police‘s North East command unit, were both suspended from duty following their arrests on 22 June last year.
The sisters’ mother Mina Smallman, who has described the officers as “despicable”, sat in court for the hearing.
Mina Smallman, the sisters’ mother, arrives at the Old Bailey in London for the hearing
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, who then dragged their bodies into bushes and left them with their limbs entwined in a deliberate act to defile them in death.
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 to their pet bearded dragon.
It can now be reported that Jaffer and Lewis were assigned to guard the deposition site on 8 June, arriving at 3.30am before being placed at the inner cordon closest to the bodies.
But a female colleague – identified only as Pc 3 – saw them walking backwards and forwards to talk to each other.
Danyal Hussein, 19, was found guilty of the murders
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 photos 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 Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement on Tuesday that Lewis also shared photographs he had taken at the crime scene – which did not show the victims – with a WhatsApp group of 40-plus officers called the A Team.
Meanwhile, Jaffer sent photos of the victims to three friends on WhatsApp.
The victims’ mother, Mina Smallman, condemned the officers, saying: “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.”
At an earlier hearing at magistrates’ court, a lawyer for the two officers apologised on their behalf for the “pain that they have caused” and indicated that they would plead guilty to misconduct.
Court artist sketch of Danyal Hussein (centre) appearing in the dock at the Old Bailey
The IOPC also concluded a separate inquiry into how the Met handled calls from worried relatives and friends of missing Ms Smallman and Ms Henry before their bodies were discovered on 7 June.
Mrs Smallman has dismissed an apology from the Metropolitan Police after the force’s response to their deaths was found by the watchdog to be below standard.
Paul Goddard, from the CPS, said: “Pc Jamie Lewis and Pc Deniz Jaffer’s senseless conduct fell way below that to be expected from police officers.”
“Their thoughtless and insensitive actions have no doubt caused immeasurable further distress and pain to the heartbroken family and friends of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry who were already left reeling from the loss of their loved ones,” Mr Goddard added.
UK
‘I was told this was a wonder drug but not warned about the deathly consequences’: 100 faces of infected blood scandal
“Losing Gary, my soul mate, was beyond painful,” says Kathryn Croucher, whose husband died aged 42 in 2010.
“Every day was a struggle dealing with the knowledge he was HIV and Hepatitis C positive.”
“Mum always said she was given a death sentence,” recalls Ronan Fitzgerald. His mother, Jane, died aged 54 after being infected with Hepatitis C when she was 16. “It was a ticking time bomb.”
Updates:
Scandal was ‘not an accident’
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The faces of the infected blood scandal.
More than 30,000 Britons were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
Around 3,000 people have died as a result of the scandal, while many more still live under the shadow of health problems, debilitating treatments and stigma. Now, the findings of a public inquiry, first announced in 2017, will finally be published.
These are 100 faces of infected blood victims that either they, or their families, have shared with Sky News.
Click the images to read their stories.
Sky News will have full coverage of the infected blood report on TV, online and on the Sky News app today.
Sky News would like to thank everyone who contributed to this project.
Julian Assange will be allowed to appeal against his extradition to the United States.
Two judges responded today to US assurances that Mr Assange will not face the death penalty – and can rely on the First Amendment right to free speech if he faced a trial for spying.
The WikiLeaks founder faces prosecution in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information after the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2017. Pic: Reuters
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a police van after being arrested in London in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange, criticised the assurances of Joe Biden’s US administration at the hearing. He said: “Based on the principle of the separation of powers, the US court can and will apply US law, whatever the executive may say or do.”
He added most of the promises were “blatantly inadequate” – but they had accepted the promise about the death penalty.
In written submissions, the barrister said while the assurance over the death penalty was “an unambiguous executive promise”, the other assurance does not give “any reliable promise as to future action”.
The barrister added: “What needs to be conclusively removed is the risk that he will be prevented from relying on the first amendment on grounds of nationality.”
But James Lewis KC, representing the US government, insisted the “judicial branch of the United States will take due notice of this solemn assurance given by its government in the course of international relations”.
In written submissions, he said there is “no question” that Assange, if extradited, “will be entitled to the full panoply of due process trial rights, including the right to raise, and seek to rely upon, the first amendment as a defence”.
He later told the court: “The assurance does make it clear that he will not be discriminated against because of his nationality.
“He can and will be able to raise all those arguments and his nationality will not prejudice a fair trial.”
Today’s decision is the latest chapter in 13 years of legal battles and detentions for Australian-born Mr Assange.
Supporters of Mr Assange have been gathering outside the High Court. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The US authorities want to put Mr Assange on trial over 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act.
They claim his actions with WikiLeaks were reckless, damaged national security, and endangered the lives of agents.
During a two-day hearing in February, lawyers for Mr Assange asked for permission to challenge a judge’s dismissal of the majority of his case to prevent his extradition.
In March, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed most of Mr Assange’s legal arguments – but said unless assurances were given by the US, he would be able to bring an appeal on three grounds.
These assurances are that Assange would be protected by and allowed to rely on the First Amendment – which protects freedom of speech in the US – that he is not “prejudiced at trial” due to his nationality, and that the death penalty is not imposed.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Supporters of Mr Assange have already been gathering outside the High Court to continue their calls for his release.
Mr Assange is currently being held in London’s high security Belmarsh prison.
Detectives are on the hunt for two men following a fatal stabbing in Glasgow at the weekend.
Police Scotland said the force received a report of a man being attacked and stabbed in Saracen Street, Possil, at around 5pm on Saturday.
Emergency services attended and took the 27-year-old victim to the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where he later died.
The death is being treated as “suspicious” ahead of the completion of a post-mortem examination.
Investigating officers have since established that two men were involved in the attack.
The suspects have been described as white and in their 30s.
One was wearing a light-blue top and black shorts, while the other was dressed in a white top, black shorts and black trainers.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Officers have been gathering and reviewing CCTV footage from in and around the neighbourhood as the probe continues.
Additional patrols have also been mobilised to the area, and anyone with information or concerns can approach these officers.
Read more from Sky News:
The stories behind 100 victims of infected blood scandal
Probe launched after man dies in police custody
Detective Inspector Lesley-Ann McGee said: “It was a warm, sunny day and there were lots of people out enjoying the weather in Saracen.
“I am asking them to get in touch with us with any information that could assist us in establishing the motive for this attack. If you saw, heard or know anything please contact us.
“I’m also asking people with dashcam or doorbell recording equipment to check for any footage that could assist our investigation.
“A family is mourning the loss of a loved one and it’s imperative we are able to answer how their loved one died.”
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