Police Officers Who Called Murdered Sisters ‘Dead Birds’ Jailed

Two  police officers who referred to murder victims as “dead birds” in addition to sharing WhatsApp snaps of them have been jailed two years and nine months each.

The two police officers also took pictures of the bodies of murdered Sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman 46 and 27 respectively.

The police constables, Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis 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.

Instead, they breached the cordon to take photographs of the bodies, which were then shared with colleagues and members of the public on WhatsApp.

One was a ‘selfie-style’ image which included Lewis’s face superimposed on it. The officers also described the victims as ‘dead birds’ in WhatsApp groups.

Lewis wrote: ‘Unfortunately I’m sat next to two dead birds full of stab wounds.’

Jaffer posted on another WhatsApp group: ‘I have pictures of the two dead victims. Let me know who doesn’t want to see.’

Jaffer, 47, of Hornchurch, east London, and Lewis, 33, from Colchester, Essex, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.

On Monday, Judge Mark Lucraft QC rejected an appeal for the two police officers to be spared custody, jailing each of the men for two years and nine months.

The judge condemned their ‘appalling and inexplicable conduct’.

The men disregarded the victims’ privacy for ‘a cheap thrill’ or ‘some form of bragging rights’ which undermined trust and faith in police, the judge said.

In victim impact statements, family members described the defendants as a ‘disgrace’ to the police family and to mankind.

The women’s mother, Mina Smallman, said the officers’ actions were a ‘betrayal of catastrophic proportions’ and a ‘sacrilegious act’.

Finding out that the men took selfies ‘for their own amusement’ had left the family ‘horrified’, she said.

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.

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‘If it had not been for an anonymous tip-off to the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) we would never have known.’

She added that the actions of the officers amounted to ‘pure misogyny’.