Mina Smallman: I have forgiven the murderer of my two daughters

This article contains content that readers may find disturbing.

The mother of two murdered sisters says she has forgiven their killer, but not the two police officers who took photos of their bodies.

Mina Smallman has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she does not feel “hate” towards the man who killed her daughters, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.

But she said the Metropolitan Police officers who sent pictures of their bodies to a WhatsApp chat group had “raped” the victims – and for that she did not forgive them.

“Clearly what they did was not as serious as murder,” Ms Smallman told Today’s Emma Barnett.

“But you’re telling me you raped our daughters even more?

“Because of that, I have not forgiven them.”

Ms Smallman said that when the two men were released, she attempted suicide, an incident she describes in her book A Better Tomorrow: Life Lessons in Hope and Strength.

“I just thought, ‘I don’t want to be here.’”

“I’ve had enough. And yes, I tried to commit suicide.”

Ms Smallman, a women’s safety campaigner, said police needed to take the misogynistic radicalisation of young men online more seriously.

“A lot of things accelerated during the lockdown… [young men became exposed] to dialogues that suggest that if you can’t get a girlfriend, it’s because women have become more dominant and men have lost their place in society.

“It’s a form of radicalization that’s affecting our young men, that’s making these haters hate even more and giving them the tools to hurt the women in their lives.”

Despite the way her daughters were treated by Metropolitan Police officers, she said she still had faith in the police.

“The majority of police officers are good people.”

But she added that the Metropolitan Police needed reform and was “working with” the authorities to “ensure we have the police force we deserve”.

Earlier this month, she called for more black officers to be deployed in London at the launch of the Alliance for Police Accountability (APA), a group of organisations tackling racism and misogyny in policing.

Commenting on the recent crossbow attack that killed Carol, Hannah and Louise Hunt, the wife and two of the daughters of BBC’s John Hunt, Ms Smallman said she was “grieving again”.

“It takes me back to the day I was told [my daughters] were dead.

“Now I am in mourning, for them, for us and for the family.

“Their lives will never be the same again.”

Ms Smallman knows the mother of Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by a Metropolitan Police officer.

“When I talk to these mothers, they are truly broken. And they are grateful to me, because they know I am talking about all of us.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this story, you can get help and support at: BBC Action Line.