Mina Smallman: Met apology 'slap in face' after PCs shared photos

BBC News

16-02-2025

The mother of two murdered sisters said an apology from the Metropolitan Police "felt like a slap in the face", after two officers were jailed for sharing photos of her daughters' bodies.Mina Smallman told Desert Island Discs she was "celebrated" when the constables were jailed, adding that "hidden pockets of filth" had been "allowed to blossom" in the force.Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, were stabbed to death while celebrating Ms Henry's birthday in a park in Wembley, north-west London, in June 2020.Danyal Hussein was jailed for a minimum of 35 years for murdering them as part of a so-called Satanic blood pact.
Former Met constables Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed for two years and nine months for sharing photographs of the sisters on WhatsApp.They described them as "dead birds" in the messaging groups.Former Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick issued a public apology in 2021 on behalf of the force to the family.Asked what her response to that apology was, Ms Smallman told the BBC Radio 4 programme: "It felt like a slap in the face, really. "You say sorry when you bump into someone at the supermarket. Another issue with huge institutions is the arrogance."
Ms Smallman, a former teacher and priest, said a police call handler never got back to her after she reported her daughters missing.She added she thought a search was not initially launched by police because of their ethnicity.The 68-year-old said: "Sometimes racism doesn't have language. It's not verbalised. It's what you fail to do and what you communicate within the structures."On being told that police had shared pictures of her daughters, Ms Smallman said she "completely lost it".
Listen to Mina Smallman's Desert Island Discs
Discussing the police, she said: "Do not do this job to lord it over people."Do the job because you want to be part of good. So many more of our police - that's who they are. They stand in the gap for us, and we've seen the worst and the best, and you'll never hear me bash the police."I bash the ones who have managed to squeeze in through poor vetting, lack of funding, hidden pockets of filth that's been allowed to blossom."I have no words for them and I will take them down. "And I was celebrating when those two were sent to prison."
'Keep fire alive'
In 2013, Ms Smallman became the first black woman to become an archdeacon in the Church of England, serving Southend in the Diocese of Chelmsford.The retired Anglican priest said she had been able to forgive the killer of her daughters, adding: "We call it the grace of God. "I don't even think about him, and when I'm talking to you now, I have no emotional connection. It's as though he doesn't exist."And that is a gift because I am a typical mother bear, everything in me would want to do him a damage, and I don't need that in my head space - that would be too much."Ms Smallman said she had not been able to forgive the jailed police officers, saying: "No, that hasn't happened."And I think the issue is it's to keep the fire alive that makes me want to continue to challenge institutions to do better."
The Old Bailey heard that Jaffer and Lewis, neither of whom was wearing forensic protection, were tasked with protecting the scene in June 2020.While at the scene Jaffer took four pictures of the bodies in situ and Lewis took two, and superimposed his face on a third to create a "selfie-style" picture.The court heard that the behaviour of the officers allowed Hussein to put forward the false defence that incriminating DNA evidence could have been contaminated.