Disgraced police officers who photographed the bodies of two murdered sisters committed a “sacrilegious act” which has “destroyed” the grieving family, the women’s mother has said.
PC Deniz Jaffer, 47, and PC Jamie Lewis, 33, are facing jail sentences for taking unauthorised images of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman after the sisters had been stabbed to death and dumped in bushes.
The two officers, who shared the images on WhatsApp and joked about guarding “dead birds”, had broken the cordon to take pictures on their phone, risking the integrity of the crime scene.
As Jaffer and Lewis face prison sentences, The Venerable Mina Smallman – mother of the two murdered women – said they were “horrified” when they found out what had happened, believing nothing could compound the grief they were suffering.
“What kind of human being does that?”, she said, in a victim impact statement.
“Jaffer and Lewis callously, and without any regard for our dead girls’ bodies, committed to my mind a sacrilegious act.”
Mrs Smallman said she and her family had travelled into London to organise her daughter’s funeral when they learned of the “betrayal” by Jaffer and Lewis.
“Those police officers felt so safe, so untouchable, they felt they could take photographs of our murdered daughters. Those officers dehumanised our children”, she said, calling it a “betrayal of catastrophic proportions”.
“The actions of Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis took away any of the strength we may have had in reserve,” she added.
The court heard the officers were posted to the murder scene cordon about 3.30am, and took pictures of the dead bodies shortly after their arrival.
Jaffer sent images to a WhatsApp group of friends, after saying he would “try to take pictures of the two dead birds”, while Lewis mocked up a “selfie” images of his face superimposed on the murdered women’s bodies.
Mrs Smallman said the messages revealed “pure misogyny” by the officers, and said she hopes their convictions “send a signal to all those people in public office, they will be held accountable and aren’t beyond the laws of the land”.
Jaffer and Lewis have pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and have been told to expect jail terms when sentenced by the Recorder of London Judge Mark Lucraft QC.
Their actions were used by killer Danyal Hussein during his murder trial, attempting to cast doubt on the DNA evidence which linked him to the murders.
Despite his efforts, Hussein was convicted of both murders and is now serving a life sentence.
