The mother of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry has said that an apology from the Metropolitan Police ‘felt like a slap in the face’ after two officers were jailed for sharing photos of their bodies
The mother of two slain sisters has described an apology from the Metropolitan Police as having “felt like a slap in the face”, following the jailing of two officers who shared photos of their bodies. Mina Smallman, speaking on Desert Island Discs, said she was “celebrating” when the constables were imprisoned, adding that “hidden pockets of filth” had been allowed to flourish within the force.
Her daughters, Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, were brutally murdered while celebrating a birthday in a Wembley park in June 2020. Danyal Hussein was sentenced to at least 35 years behind bars for killing them as part of a Satanic blood pact.
Former Met constables Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis received prison sentences of two years and nine months for sharing photographs of the sisters on WhatsApp, referring to them as “dead birds”. In 2021, former Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick publicly apologised to the family on behalf of the force.
When asked about her reaction to the apology, 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.”
She also criticised the arrogance of large institutions. Ms Smallman, a former teacher and priest, claimed that a police call handler never followed up after she reported her daughters missing.
She suggested that the initial lack of a police search was due to their ethnicity. Ms Smallman, 68, 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.”
She was devastated upon learning that police had shared photos of her daughters, stating, “I completely lost it”. 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 lack of 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.”
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 shared her journey towards forgiveness regarding her daughters’ killer, stating: “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.”
She described this detachment as a blessing, “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.”
However, Ms Smallman admitted that she has not reached a point of forgiveness for the jailed police officers involved, simply stating, “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 there, Jaffer took four photos of the crime scene bodies, while Lewis took two and even added his face to a third, creating a macabre “selfie-style” picture.
The court was told how their actions provided an opportunity for Hussein to falsely claim the DNA evidence against him could have been tainted.
