A FORMER archdeacon, the mother of two murdered daughters, has welcomed the sentencing of the two former Metropolitan Police constables who took and shared photos of the victims after being assigned to the crime scene.
On Monday, Deniz Jaffer, aged 47, of Hornchurch, London, and Jamie Lewis, 33, of Colchester, Essex, were both sentenced to two years and nine months i prison, after pleading guilty to the charge of misconduct in public office (News, 5 November).
The Ven. Wilhelmina (Mina) Smallman, a former Archdeacon of Southend, told reporters after the sentencing at the Old Bailey that she was “thrilled” that the two men had received custodial sentences. “I think the judge really got it,” she said. “This additional pain and suffering we’ve gone through could have been avoided.”
Judge Mark Lucraft QC described the men’s behaviour as “appalling and inexplicable”.
The two officers had been sent to Fryent Country Park, in north-west London, in June 2020, to guard the site where Danyal Hussein, 19, had stabbed to death Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry as part of what he apparently regarded as a pact with a demon (News, 9 July). They breached the police cordon and took photos of the bodies, which were shared via WhatsApp with other officers and friends outside the force. Mr Lewis superimposed his face on a photo that he took to create a “selfie-style” picture. In WhatsApp messages, they referred to the sisters as “two dead birds”.
In her victim impact statement, Mrs Smallman described the officer’s actions as a “betrayal of catastrophic proportions” and “a sacrilegious act”.
Mr Jaffer resigned from the police in the summer, and Mr Lewis was dismissed last month.
Outside the court, Mrs Smallman said: “We’ve been to hell and back again. So we have not even dared to dream what it’s going to feel like, not having this hanging over your head.”
She said, however, that the men’s sentencing meant that “we are part of the change that’s going to come in the culture of the police force.” Asked about her plans for campaigning, she said: “I want women — all women — to feel safe. . . We have good laws in place, but they’re inactive. . . If I’m going to campaign about anything, it’s going to be on behalf of all women, but women of colour [particularly].”
Separately, Mrs Smallman told The Daily Telegraph that the ordeal had left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that she has found herself screaming out for her murdered daughters in her sleep.
BBC award-winner. Mrs Smallman was this week named as one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2021: “inspiring and influential women” who are “hitting ‘reset’ — women playing their part to reinvent our society”. Mrs Smallman, one of only six British or British-born women on the list, was commended for “campaigning to make UK streets safer and to reform the police”.