Metropolitan Police officers facing allegations of taking photo at scene of death and cheating on driving exam
Allegations come to light after IOPC probe into two Met PCs who shared photographs of murdered sisters on WhatsApp
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Your support makes all the difference.Several more Metropolitan Police officers are facing misconduct probes, including one who allegedly took a picture at the scene of a sudden death, after two PCs admitted sharing pictures of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.
Evidence of the misconduct allegations came to light during an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into PC Deniz Jaffer, 47, and PC Jamie Lewis, 33, who shared photographs of the sisters’ bodies taken at the murder scene in a north London park last year.
Stemming from that probe, another Met officer has now been accused of taking and sharing a photograph at the scene of a sudden death, while two other officers were allegedly either aware of, received or viewed the photograph.
The police watchdog also found an unspecified number of officers may have shared or used answers prior to a police driving exam, while a PC allegedly has a case to answer for gross misconduct over his alleged use of discriminatory language within a WhatsApp group.
The IOPC said its probe into the incidents has concluded and the findings have been shared with the Metropolitan Police, which will now arrange for disciplinary proceedings to take place.
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Evidence of the alleged misconduct was unearthed during the IOPC’s four-month investigation into Jaffer and Lewis, who were assigned to guard the crime scene in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, last summer.
A separate investigation into the conduct of a further six officers who allegedly were either aware of, received or viewed the inappropriate photographs and failed to challenge or report them concluded three officers, all PCs, had a case to answer for misconduct, according to the IOPC.
The police watchdog said Jaffer took four photographs on his personal mobile phone while he was positioned at the cordon in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, on 8 June 2020.
In the early hours of the morning, he sent five photographs, one was a duplicate, to Lewis, who then used a mobile app to superimpose his face onto one of the photographs, which showed the sisters in the background.
Lewis shared photographs he had taken at the crime scene, which did not show the sisters, with a WhatsApp group entitled “A Team group” consisting of 42 colleagues.
He also used degrading and sexist language to describe the victims at the crime scene he was protecting, the IOPC said.
Jaffer shared photographs he took of the sisters with two police colleagues and three members of the public.
IOPC regional director for London Sal Naseem said: “The actions of PC Jamie Lewis and former officer Deniz Jaffer, were sickening. They should have been protecting a crime scene but instead they treated it with contempt and disrespect.
“In doing so they insulted Nicole and Bibaa, their families, their loved ones, and their colleagues.
“There can be no place in policing for anyone behaving this way.”
The Metropolitan Police is to instigate gross misconduct proceedings that will see the two officers formally dismissed.
“Sadly, as today’s events highlight, police officers falling below the standards of behaviour expected of them are not one-off events,” said Mr Naseem.
“A culture where some officers do not see anything wrong with sharing deeply offensive messages, and where others feel unable or unwilling to challenge this, has to change. And it has to change now.”