‘The time for saying sorry is long gone’
Mum of murdered sisters blasts Dick’s apology amid Met ‘racial profiling’ row:
THE mother of two sisters who were stabbed to death yesterday rejected an apology from Scotland Yard over a series of blunders.
Mina Smallman, a retired archdeacon, told Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick: ‘The time for apologies has long gone.’
The police watchdog advised the force to apologise to the family of Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, after finding the level of service ‘unacceptable’. Dame Cressida issued a public apology, but Mrs Smallman responded by saying: ‘Sorry – just won’t cut it.’
The Independent Office for Police Conduct found no evidence of stereotyping or bias, but Mrs Smallman believes there was a racial element to police failings. She accused an inspector who made unprofessional comments about the sisters of ‘racial profiling, misogyny or classism’.
The IOPC found that a call handler referred to one of the missing sisters as a ‘suspect’ and officers were not deployed for 12 hours after they were reported missing.
The sisters’ mutilated bodies were discovered hidden in a hedgerow the day after they disappeared following a picnic in a park.
They were murdered by Danyal Hussein, 19, as part of a bizarre pact with the devil that he believed would help him win the lottery and attract women.
The sisters were reported missing at 9pm on June 6 last year. Officers were deployed mid-morning the following day and Miss Smallman’s boyfriend, Adam Stone, found the bodies at 1.18pm in Fryent Country Park, near Wembley, north-west London. Mrs Smallman, who was the Church of England’s first black female archdeacon, said: ‘We’re not the only parties who suffered mental anguish at the hands of the Met Police’s incompetent, reprehensible and blatant disregard of agreed procedures regarding missing persons.
‘It began with the call handler’s inappropriate assertions, mishandling the call, which led to the cancellation of the missing persons alert. The inspector on the second shift made erroneous assumptions about the whereabouts of our daughters. We’re also of the view his unprofessional comments about Bibaa and Nicole’s picnic suggest racial profiling, misogyny or classism.’
She added that a search by 14 family and friends ‘ended with Nicole’s precious Adam discovering their bodies. This lasting image of his soulmate will forever remain in his mind’s eye.’
Mrs Smallman said of the apology: ‘Sorry – just won’t cut it. It’s too hollow.’ She told Channel 4 News: ‘If the Met had done their job – cared enough – we would have been spared all the additional phone calls, sleepless nights, worrying about where they were. And now they want to say sorry. The time for apologies has long gone.’
Mrs Smallman said when she had met the commissioner she had been very ‘nice and charming’, but she added: ‘Her job was essentially to protect the brand.’
Hussein was found guilty of murder earlier this year, but sentence was deferred for psychiatric reports. Two police officers who shared photos of the sisters’ bodies at the crime scene have admitted misconduct in public office.
‘Protecting the brand’