Cops who took pictures of murdered sisters lose appeal against sentences

Two former policemen jailed for taking pictures of murdered sisters at a crime scene they were protecting have lost appeals against their sentences.

Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Jamie Lewis, 33 were imprisoned for over two years at a hearing last December after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office.

The police constables were assigned to guard the scene after Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, north-west London, in June 2020.

Instead, the officers moved from their posts to take ‘inappropriate’ and ‘unauthorised’ photographs of the bodies, which were then shared with colleagues and friends on WhatsApp.

Judge Mark Lucraft handed each of the men jail terms of two years and nine months.

Appeal judges Dame Victoria Sharp, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mrs Justice Farbey considered arguments at a Court of Appeal hearing in London on Wednesday.

They said they will give their reasons at a later date.

Lewis, from Colchester in Essex, has been sacked from the Metropolitan Police, while Jaffer, of Hornchurch, east London, resigned.

Barristers representing the men argued that the sentences imposed by Judge Lucraft were excessive.

Neil Saunders, who represented Jaffer, said he has been attacked three times by three different inmates.

Luke Ponte, for Lewis, said he has been assaulted twice.

The murdered women’s mother, Mina Smallman, and her husband Chris, were at the appeal hearing.

The family had previously welcomed the officers sentences, describing them as a ‘disgrace to the police and to human kind’.

Bibaa, 46, and Nicole 27, were killed in a random, horrific attack by Danyal Hussein, 19, who had written a pledge in blood to a demon to kill women every six months, in order to win the lottery.

He was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of 35 years, in October after being found guilty of the women’s murders.

He condemned their ‘appalling and inexplicable conduct’, saying they disregarded the victims’ privacy for ‘a cheap thrill’ or ‘some form of bragging rights’