Met Police officer sacked after asking colleague for photo of decomposed body 'to show her mother'
A serving Met Police officer has been sacked after asking for and receiving a photo of a dead man.
PC Bonnie Murphy asked colleague Jamie Lewis to send her a photo of a decomposed body to show her family.
She has now been dismissed without notice.
Lewis would have been dismissed had he not already been sacked and jailed for two years and nine months in December 2021 for taking pictures of two murder victims – Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.
Ms Smallman and Ms Henry had been out celebrating the latter's birthday in a park in Wembley, north-west London, in June 2020 when they were stabbed to death by Danyal Hussein. Hussein was jailed for life in October 2021.
Lewis was one of the officers in charge of guarding the bodies but took selfies with them and shared the pictures over WhatsApp.
An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which ran from July 2020 to October 2021, found that Lewis had received and passed on to PC Murphy the photo of a decomposed body in Newham, east London, at her request.
He also helped her to cheat on a police driving test.
The day after Lewis was arrested over the Wembley incident, PC Murphy told her supervisor that Lewis had sent her WhatsApp messages asking if she wanted the answers to the police basic driver written exam.
When she agreed, Lewis sent her previous police driving exam material and the answer sheet to the exam he had taken the previous month.
She also used Google during the exam.
Eva Niculiu, defending Murphy before a disciplinary panel in central London, said that she thought it was “quite normal” for officers to cheat during the driving exam, according to The Times.
The Met’s public notice on the case alleges that Murphy asked Lewis to “send her a photograph from a possible crime scene stating she wanted to show her mother, following which former PC Lewis sent the photograph on WhatsApp”.
Ms Niculiu said Murphy “didn’t really intend to show her mother and that she did not do so. It seemed to have been just morbid curiosity.”
A disciplinary panel ruled that they had both breached the standards of police professional behaviour and had acted with gross misconduct.
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “The period after a person’s death is already difficult enough for their loved ones, so to learn that an image has been taken and shared inappropriately by police officers only compounds their grief, undermines their confidence in the Metropolitan Police Service and the profession as a whole.
“We welcome the panel’s decision and hope today’s outcome demonstrates that this behaviour is not treated lightly and can result in serious consequences for the officers involved.
“Though PC Murphy was fairly new to her role, she had undertaken multiple training courses and would have known her request to obtain a death scene photo for personal purposes was in breach of professional standards.
“Lewis failed to challenge PC Murphy’s behaviour and was willing to help her cheat in an exam.
"Both officers also showed a complete lack of respect for this deceased man and his family.
“Lewis has already been jailed for his disgraceful actions by taking and sharing photos of murder victims, and this investigation further illustrates that he was unfit to serve as a police officer.
“Our thoughts remain with the family at this difficult time.”
PC Murphy will be placed on the College of Policing’s barred list.
Former PC Lewis has already been placed on the barred list following an accelerated hearing organised by the Met Police after he was convicted and jailed.
The officer who took the photo of the dead man had a disciplinary meeting for misconduct in August 2022 and was ordered to take the reflective practice review process to learn and reflect on their actions.
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