Final fairy lights snap may hold clue to sisters’ murder
HAUNTING images of two halfsisters dancing in the dark with fairy lights just before they were fatally stabbed have been released by police.
Officers hope the photos of Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46, will trigger memories of anyone who saw them.
The pictures were taken at 1.13am on Saturday June 6 on a mobile phone belonging to one of the women. Calls to them at 2.30am went unanswered.
Their bodies were found in Fryent Country Park in Wembley, north London, the following day. They had gone there with friends on the evening of Friday June 5 to celebrate Bibaa’s birthday.
By the time the photos were taken the sisters were the only ones still there. Det Chf Insp Simon Harding, who is leading the investigation, revealed their phones had been found in a pond “some distance” away.
He said: “We are discovering more evidence all the time. Any motive remains unknown, and we are exploring all possibilities.
“I can now confirm that the last contact they are believed to have had with family and friends was at 1.05am. They were in good spirits and taking selfie pictures, listening to music and dancing with fairy lights until at least 1.13am.
“Those lights created a distinctive pattern. This in itself may have been noticeable to local residents and other users of the park. Did you see the lights and, if so, can you remember whether you saw anything suspicious? I urge you to get in touch.”
He said the killer was male who received a “significant” injury or injuries during the attack.
A 36-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder earlier this month was subsequently released and will face no further action.
46th birthday...sister Bibaa Henry
The victims’ mum, Wilhelmina Smallman, was Britain’s first minority ethnic female Church of England archdeacon. She said: “The pain we feel as a family is so deep no words can express it.”
She added that social worker Bibaa “had the heart of a lion and a smile that would put Blackpool illuminations to shame”.
Of Nicole she said: “She saw beauty in everything.”