Met Police officers who took picture of murdered sisters lose jail appeals

Two former Metropolitan Police officers jailed after taking pictures of two murdered sisters at a crime scene they were protecting have lost appeals against their sentences. Deniz Jaffer, now 48, and Jamie Lewis, now 33, had been constables assigned to guard the scene after Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, North West London, in June 2020.

Instead, the officers moved from their posts to take photographs of the bodies, which were then shared with colleagues and friends on WhatsApp. Jaffer and Lewis were each given jail terms of two years and nine months at a hearing at the Old Bailey in December after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office.

During their sentencing, Judge Mark Lucraft told the two that they had disregarded the victims’ privacy for a “cheap thrill” and condemned their “appalling and inexplicable conduct”. The victims’ family had welcomed their sentences, with mum Mina Smallman describing their actions as a “betrayal of such catastrophic proportion”.

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Speaking outside the court following the sentencing of Jaffer and Lewis, Ms Smallman said: “It made me think of the lynchings in the Deep South of the USA where you would see smiling faces around a hanging dead body. Those police officers felt so safe, so untouchable, that t hey felt they would take photographs with our murdered daughters. Those police officers dehumanised our children.”

Appeal judges Dame Victoria Sharp, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mrs Justice Farbey considered arguments at a Court of Appeal hearing in London on Wednesday, but both officers have lost the appeal.

The two Metropolitan Police officers had shared the “dehumanising” images in Whatsapp groups, calling the victims “dead birds”. One group chat contained 41 police officers whilst another contained Jaffer’s family friends. Their actions had helped the defence of the killer, who was able to claim possible contamination of the crime scene.

The two sisters were murdered by Danyal Hussein, a 19-year-old Satanist, in a random and terrifying attack whilst they were celebrating Nicole’s birthday. He had written a pledge in blood to a demon to kill women every six months, under the delusional belief that it would allow him to win the lottery.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, he was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 35 years in October, after a jury found him guilty of both murders.