Met officer sacked after asking colleague for photo of decomposed body

Danny Halpin, PA
·3 min read

A serving Met Police officer has been sacked from the force after asking for and receiving a photo of a dead man.

Pc Bonnie Murphy, who asked colleague Jamie Lewis to send her a photo of a decomposed body to show her family, was 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.

The two women had been celebrating Ms Henry’s birthday in a park in Wembley, north-west London, in June 2020 when they were stabbed to death by Danyal Hussein.

Lewis was one of the officers in charge of guarding the bodies but took selfies with them and shared the pictures over WhatsApp.

Fryent Park deaths
Jamie Lewis would have been dismissed had he not already been sacked and jailed in December 2021 for taking pictures of the murdered women (Metropolitan Police/PA)

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.

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 to 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 was already 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.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Police 'reviewing information' about Tory MP Mark Menzies after alleged misuse of funds

    Police say they are reviewing "information" about Conservative MP Mark Menzies after Labour asked for an investigation into claims he misused party funds. Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds wrote to Lancashire Police asking for an inquiry after The Times reported he had made a late-night phone call to an aide asking for funds to pay off "bad people". Mr Menzies told the paper he contests the allegations against him.

  • Google scraps minimum wage, benefits rules for suppliers and staffing firms

    Alphabet Inc's Google on Friday said it will roll back requirements that U.S. suppliers and staffing firms pay their employees at least $15 an hour and provide health insurance and other benefits, a move that could allow the tech giant to avoid bargaining with unions. The elimination of the 2019 policy, along with other steps such as limiting access by temporary workers and vendors to internal systems, are designed to comply with shifting U.S. and global labor regulations related to contingent workers, a spokesperson for Mountain View, California-based Google told Reuters. "These updates bring us in line with other large companies and simply clarify that Google is not, and has never been, the employer of our suppliers’ employees," the spokesperson said.

  • Ryan Gosling and Miller/Lord’s Project Hail Mary could be the sci-fi event of 2026

    Amazon MGM just set a March 20, 2026 release date for Project Hail Mary, an adaptation of the Andy Weir novel. The film stars Ryan Gosling and is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

  • Powassan council to revisit library proposal to increase budget by 26 per cent

    Powassan town council plans to revisit a request from the local library board to raise its budget by 26 per cent this year. Council first rejected the proposal from the Powassan District Union Public Library at its April 2nd meeting and countered with a seven percent increase. However, following a presentation from the library board members and its CEO at the April 16th meeting, Mayor Peter McIsaac said despite the council already setting its budget, “we’re going to bring the library portion bac

  • Arrest over Russian plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky

    Polish police have arrested a man suspected of aiding a Russian plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky, targeting an airport the Ukrainian leader uses for overseas travel.

  • UPDATE 1-New York fails to reach contracts with 3 major offshore wind farms

    A New York state agency on Friday said it had failed to reach final contract agreements with the developers of three major offshore wind projects, blaming a decision by General Electric Vernova to scrap plans for a new turbine. The projects affected include Attentive Energy One, being developed by TotalEnergies, Rise Light & Power and Corio Generation, Community Offshore Wind, backed by RWE and National Grid Ventures, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority said in a statement. Excelsior Wind, being developed by Vineyard Offshore, is also affected, it said.

  • Flames want to promote their team as a desirable destination for NHL players

    CALGARY — Winning more games and the construction of a new arena will convince more NHL players that Calgary is a desirable place to play, some Flames say as they head for the exits. Calgary finished 17 points out of a playoff spot this season with a record of 38-39-5, and missed the post-season a second straight year. A slow start to the season combined with big-name pending free agents not signing contract extensions produced midseason lineup changes that hampered the club's progress. Other pl

  • Stock market today: Gold and oil spike and US futures drop after Iran comes under fire

    Gold and oil prices jumped following Israel's apparent retaliation against Iran before paring gains, while stock markets look set to open lower.

  • Receiver Eugene Lewis optimistic about Edmonton Elks' 2024 fortunes

    Receiver Eugene Lewis can't wait to start earning quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson's trust. The signing of Bethel-Thompson, a two-time Grey Cup champion, was Edmonton's biggest off-season move. The Elks have finished last in the West Division three consecutive years. CFL training camps open next month. "I know what a great quarterback can do," Lewis said. "Somebody with experience, somebody who's been through it and won championships and MBT has done that. "To have another guy like that, anoth

  • The Latest | Full jury of 12 people and 6 alternates seated in Trump's hush money trial in New York

    NEW YORK (AP) — A jury of 12 people and six alternates was seated on Friday in former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial. The completion of the jury selection process tees up the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president for opening statements and weeks of testimony in a case charging Trump with falsifying business records to suppress stories about his sex life emerging in the final days of the 2016 election. The jury includes a sales professional, a software engineer,

  • EastEnders' Balvinder Sopal thanks colleagues after mum's death

    EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal has thanked colleagues for their support in the days following the death of her mother, Nirmal.

  • Europe discards Arsenal and Liverpool shift focus to EPL title race

    LONDON (AP) — What will it take to win the English Premier League with six games remaining? That's easy — perfection. Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool — all eliminated from their European competitions this week — are locked in a tight battle for the title. Defending champion City leads both rivals by two points but with Pep Guardiola's team playing an FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal and Liverpool can gain ground. “If you want to be champion in the Premier League, you

  • Israel’s strike has exposed Iran’s fatal weakness

    Israel’s presumed counterstrike against Iran has proved Joe Biden and David Cameron wrong in their insistence that Israel should just “take the win”. Instead, it fought back – and yesterday Iran was trying to pretend that nothing had happened.

  • Next UN climate talks are critical to plot aid for poorer nations, says incoming president

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who will run United Nations climate talks this November views the negotiations as a key link in international efforts to curb global warming. The conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, must build on last year's successful agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, said Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan's environment minister who will serve as conference president of the talks known as COP29 this fall. And this fall's meeting must help pave the way for countries to come together

  • Police reviewing allegations against suspended Tory MP accused of pay-off to ‘bad people’

    Officers consider letter calling on them to investigate

  • Sunak accused of making mental illness ‘another front in the culture wars’

    Charities say high rates of people signed off work are caused by crumbling public services after years of underinvestment

  • Police 'reviewing letter' about Tory MP Mark Menzies after alleged misuse of funds

    Lancashire Police says it is in the ‘process of reviewing available information in more detail’

  • TREASURIES-Yields slip as investors move toward safe haven assets

    Easing concerns over a broad Middle East conflict will likely continue to pressure Treasuries, which have sold off for much of the week on worries that persistent inflation will prevent the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates this year. A number of Fed officials have said this week that they do not feel urgency to cut rates given the strength of the U.S. economy and labor market. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari told Fox News Channel late Thursday that he also wants to be "patient," with the first rate cut "potentially" not appropriate until next year.

  • ‘Get off my mom’: Stabbing suspect killed in house fire after standoff with Sacramento deputies

    A child was screaming at the suspect to leave his mother alone after a stabbing, Sacramento deputies said.

  • Penguins GM Dubas joins Canada's front office for world hockey championship

    CALGARY — Pittsburgh Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas has been named to Canada's front office team for the upcoming world hockey championship. Hockey Canada announced Friday that Dubas will make his international debut as an associate general manager on GM Rick Nash's staff. Dubas, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., recently completed his first season leading Pittsburgh's front office. The Penguins made a late playoff push but ended the season three points behind