Two London police officers admit sharing photos of murdered sisters

By Jack Guy, CNN

Two UK police officers have pleaded guilty to taking and sharing photos of the bodies of two murdered sisters at a crime scene they were assigned to protect, reports the UK’s PA Media news agency.

Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Jamie Lewis, 33, both of London’s Metropolitan Police, admitted to taking and sharing images of Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, at a court hearing in London on Tuesday, PA Media reports.

The officers were protecting the scene where the sisters’ bodies had been found in a park in Wembley, northwest London, when they broke the cordon in order to take photos, before sharing them on WhatsApp.

Jaffer took four photographs and Lewis took two. One image which was sent to a female colleague had been edited to include Lewis’ face, according to PA Media.

The pair admitted committing misconduct in a public office between June 7 and June 23 2020. They were both arrested on June 22 last year and suspended from duty, reports PA.

Both were released on conditional bail as Judge Mark Lucraft QC adjourned sentencing until December.

“These matters are extremely serious and you should be under no illusions when you return for sentence it is extremely likely you will receive custodial sentences, custodial sentences of some length for your conduct,” said Lucraft, according to PA.

Both Jaffer and Lewis left the hearing without speaking to journalists.

Last week, Danyal Hussein, 19, was jailed for life for the murder of Henry and Smallman. He stabbed the sisters — who police said were complete strangers to him — in a premeditated attack.

“At his trial, the jury heard that Hussein drew up an agreement with a ‘demon’ to sacrifice women in exchange for a lottery win,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement

“He created a handwritten plan, signed in his own blood, in which he pledged to murder six women every six months, in return requesting financial reward.”

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