Two police officers who took pictures of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman have each been jailed for two years and nine months.

PC Deniz Jaffer and PC Jamie Lewis were assigned to guard the crime scene overnight after Ms Henry, 46, and Ms Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park, Wembley, north-west London.

Instead, they breached the cordon to take “inappropriate” and “unauthorised” photographs of the bodies, which were then shared on WhatsApp.

After the officers' actions were revealed, the sisters’ mother Mina Smallman, from Ramsgate, called on the Metropolitan Police to “get the rot out once and for all”.

Lewis even superimposed his face onto a picture with the victims in the background.

He sent the doctored image to Jaffer, who forwarded it to a female officer at the scene.

Jaffer went on to show one of the photos to a male officer as they left the park and sent others to three friends on WhatsApp.

Lewis, who used “degrading and sexist” language, also shared crime scene pictures with a WhatsApp group of 40-plus officers called the “A Team”.

The pair, who were attached to the Met’s North East command unit, were suspended from duty following their arrests on June 22 last year.

Jaffer, 47, of Hornchurch, east London, and Lewis, 33, from Colchester, Essex, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.

They were sentenced by Judge Mark Lucraft at the Old Bailey today.

He condemned their “appalling and inexplicable conduct”.

'I am sure there will be many thousands of officers in police forces in this country and abroad utterly horrified by your actions.'

Judge Lucraft said: “The public expects, and rightly so, the highest of standards from police officers.

“I am sure there will be many thousands of officers in police forces in this country and abroad utterly horrified by your actions.

“It is appalling and inexplicable conduct.

“Here, the two of you not only violated the police cordon with the effect that had on the scene and on the investigation, but then wholly disregarded the privacy of the two victims of horrific violence and their families for what can only have been some cheap thrill, kudos, a kick or some form of bragging right by taking images and then passing them to others.”

Speaking outside court, the victims’ mother, Mina Smallman, from Ramsgate, said she was “thrilled” at the sentence but added there was more work to be done.

“We’ve been to hell and back again," she said.

“Most of our police force are amazing and do an amazing job, but there is an element that has taken over the culture of how they banter.”

She rejected the officers’ expressions of remorse, saying: “I bet they are sorry and tortured that they tortured their family.

“I bet they get stick everywhere. That’s not the same as feeling shame.”

'All of us in the Met and wider policing are horrified by their shameful behaviour.'

She added: “I hope this sends a signal to the Met and all other police forces and gives strength to those who are being abused and hearing language they detest to speak up and people will listen.”

The Met's Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said: "Our thoughts are once more with the family and friends of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.

"I am so sorry that during the most difficult time in their lives the actions of these two officers caused them so much additional pain and distress.

“Today former PCs Jaffer and Lewis have been punished for their actions which were utterly unprofessional, disrespectful and deeply insensitive.

“All of us in the Met and wider policing are horrified by their shameful behaviour."

Last month, a tribunal found the officers had committed gross misconduct.

Lewis was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police immediately and Jaffer would have been sacked too, had he not already quit the force.