By Lucy Caulkett-
The Independent Police Complaint Commission’s investigations into photos taken at a murder scene has led to a separate investigation of gross misconduct over allegations they received a photograph taken at the scene of a sudden death in January 2020, and that they improperly obtained the answers to a police driving exam.
A hearing has been arranged by the force for October.
The IOPC said that the officers who took and shared the photograph, have a case to answer for misconduct, and will face a misconduct meeting to be arranged by the force.
It is alleged that the picture was taken with a personal phone, in breach of policy, but there was no evidence to indicate it had not been taken for a legitimate policing purpose.
The officer was not protecting a crime scene at the time, and had no business taking photographs of the scene.
Nicole and Bibaa were murdered in June 2020, and their killer jailed for life in October 2021.
Two officers guarding the scene – PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis – took photos and shared it with colleagues. Jaffer also shared the images with members of the public via mobile phone messaging service WhatsApp.
Both officers were sentenced to two years and nine months in jail in December 2021. Following a misconduct hearing, Lewis was dismissed from the force.
Jaffer had resigned before his misconduct hearing, which found he would have been dismissed without notice had he still been a serving officer.
Our investigation also identified areas of learning for the MPS regarding the culture at Forest Gate police station, where Jaffer and Lewis were based.
In November 2020, the IOPC issued fast-time learning which it said has now been embedded as official learning recommendations.
Amongst its recommendations to the Met Police is that they review whether supervisors and senior management at Forest Gate Police Station are taking personal responsibility to identify and eliminate patterns of inappropriate behaviour.
They are also expected to promote a safe and open culture which makes clear to officers and staff that they are dutybound to challenge and report behaviour that does not align with the Code of Ethics
The Met has also been encouraged to take steps to ensure all officers within Forest Gate Police Station conform to the expectations of their behaviour under the Code of Ethics, whilst on and off duty, and are aware that failure to do so could severely damage the public’s confidence in policing.
The IOPC said the Met agreed with its recommendations, and has taken a number of steps since November 2020 to address the issues identified.
Three serving MPS officers faced misconduct meetings last month for failing to challenge or report the inappropriate photographs when they were either shared with, or shown, to them.
The officers were given written warnings.
Investigation
The IOPC’s investigation began in July 2020 after evidence came to light – following the arrest of Jaffer and Lewis – that other officers from the North East command unit were either aware of, viewed or received photographs of the murder victims.
It was completed in March 2021 when we found a case to answer for misconduct for the officers.
IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said: “Our thoughts and sympathies remain with the family and friends of Nicole and Bibaa.
“The investigation we carried out into the sharing of an inappropriate WhatsApp image has ended with two officers being jailed and three more being sanctioned for their part in not challenging or reporting those who sent or shared them.
“Their actions have harmed public confidence in the police service and caused a terrible degree of distress to Nicole and Bibaa’s families.
“The grief of the family and friends of Nicole and Bibaa was worsened by the total lack of respect shown to them both by these two former officers. This conduct robbed them of their dignity.
“While individuals have been held accountable for their actions, another important element of our work is to identify learning in order to improve policing.
“The recommendations we have made will contribute to this kind of behaviour being eradicated. Police forces must be a safe place to work and there must be an environment where unprofessional behaviour can be challenged.”
Accounts
During our investigation we obtained accounts from the officers involved and reviewed CCTV and phone download evidence.
Now that all proceedings have concluded we have published our reports of the investigations into Jaffer and Lewis, the three officers who faced misconduct meetings last month and our learning recommendations from the investigation into the MPS’s handling of the missing persons reports about the sisters.
In a separate investigation, which stemmed from the investigation of the crime scene photographs, the IOPC concluded that two officers had a case to answer for gross misconduct over allegations they received a photograph taken at the scene of a sudden death in January 2020, and that they improperly obtained the answers to a police driving exam.
A hearing has been arranged by the force for October.
A PC, who took and shared the photograph, has a case to answer for misconduct and will face a misconduct meeting to be arranged by the force. It is alleged that the picture was taken with a personal phone, in breach of policy, but there was no evidence to indicate it had not been taken for a legitimate policing purpose.
The officer was not protecting a crime scene, therefore it was our view that there was no risk of contaminating any evidence.