Metropolitan Police officers have admitted sharing photos of the bodies of two murdered sisters on WhatsApp.
Pc Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Pc Jamie Lewis, 33, have pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to misconduct in a public office after they shared photos of the bodies of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.
The two officers were assigned to protect the scene after Bibaa, 46, and Nicole, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park in Wembley, north-west London.
Instead, they breached the cordon to take "inappropriate" and "unauthorised" photographs of the bodies, which were then shared on WhatsApp.
Jaffer took four photographs and Lewis took two and one of the images sent to a female colleague had Lewis's face superimposed onto it, it can now be reported.
At a hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, the officers admitted committing misconduct in a public office between June 7 and June 23 last year.
Jaffer, 47, of Hornchurch, east London, and Lewis, 33, from Colchester, Essex, had been arrested as part of a criminal investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog.
The charge against each of them stated that "without authorisation he entered a crime scene he had been assigned to protect, sending information about his attendance at the scene to members of the public via WhatsApp and taking photographs of the crime scene".
The pair, who were attached to the Met's North East command unit, were both suspended from duty following their arrests on June 22 last year and granted unconditional court bail.
The sisters' mother Mina Smallman, who has described the officers as "despicable", sat in court for the hearing.
Last week, Satanist Danyal Hussein, 19, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years for murdering Ms Henry and Ms Smallman.
During Hussein's trial, Mrs Justice Whipple had banned reporting of details about the behaviour of Jaffer and Lewis, who were referred to only as Pc 1 and Pc 2.
The jury had heard that the victims had been celebrating Ms Henry's birthday when they were viciously stabbed by Hussein.
Hussein had then dragged their bodies into bushes and left them with their limbs entwined in a deliberate act to defile them in death.
Some 36 hours later, the sisters were found by Ms Smallman's distraught boyfriend, Adam Stone, 35, after he became concerned when she failed to return home.
As police began the painstaking process of searching the park for forensic evidence, the sisters' bodies were left in the small copse overnight.
The jury was shown pictures taken by Pc Jaffer early on June 8 of the bodies inside the bushy area where they were found.
Throughout the trial, images of the bodies in situ had been blacked out before being shown in court.
It can now be reported that Jaffer and Lewis were assigned to guard the deposition site on June 8 last year.
They arrived at 3.30am and were placed at the inner cordon closest to the bodies.
They were instructed to remain at their posts and maintain the integrity of the scene.
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