The two police officers who took photos of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman have been jailed.
PC Deniz Jaffer and PC Jamie Lewis were both sentenced to two-years and nine-months following a trial at the Old Bailey.
The officers were assigned to guard the scene overnight after Ms Henry, 46, and Ms Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, north-west London.
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At the trial, the men were accused of a ‘catastrophic betrayal’ after they took photos of the two murdered women and shared them on WhatsApp, where the mean described the victims as ‘dead birds’.
The court heard, one of the photos taken was a ‘selfie-style’ image, which had Lewis’s face superimposed on it.
Jaffer, 47, of Hornchurch, east London, and Lewis, 33, from Colchester, Essex, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.
Victims' impact statements read out by the women’s family said the pair were a ‘disgrace’ to the police and to mankind.
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The women’s mother, Mina Smallman, said the officers’ actions were a ‘betrayal of catastrophic proportions’ and a ‘sacrilegious act’.
She said the family were left ‘horrified’ after finding out the men took the photos ‘for their own amusement’.
Mrs Smallman added: “Those police officers felt so safe, so untouchable, they felt they would take photos of our murdered daughters. Those officers dehumanised our children.
“If it had not been for an anonymous tip-off to the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) we would never have known.”
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Jaffer and Lewis, neither of whom was wearing forensic protection, had arrived in the park at 3.30am on June 8 last year.
During the night, Jaffer took four pictures of the bodies in situ and Lewis took two, and superimposed his face on to one of them to create the ‘selfie-style’ image.
Jaffer sent an inexperienced female officer at the scene photographs of the bodies as they lay intertwined in the bushes, including Lewis’s ‘selfie’.
Jaffer went on to show images to two other officers, including a female probationary officer he was supposed to be mentoring at Forest Gate police station, who was ‘shocked’ and ‘disgusted’.
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Lewis showed his phone displaying an image from the crime scene to another female officer who could not see it properly, the court heard.
On June 19 last year, the police watchdog received an anonymous tip-off about Lewis - prompting the investigation.
Following the investigation Lewis was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police immediately and Jaffer would have been sacked too, had he not already quit the force.
Topics: UK News