It is nearly two years since Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were killed in a London park and pictures of their bodies were shared by the officers who were supposed to be guarding them. Their mother talks about taking on the Met, and how she carries on in the face of overwhelming grief
Mina Smallman’s home is idyllic. Overlooking Ramsgate harbour, in Kent, it is bathed in natural light. A sign in the kitchen says: “Welcome to Party Palace”. Tiny speakers are embedded in the ceiling from the party days. A gorgeous family photograph is framed on the wall, with her husband, Chris, towering over Mina and her three daughters. “We’ve got lovely memories here with the girls,” Mina, 65, tells me.
On 6 June it will be two years since her life was ripped apart. Two of the daughters were murdered by a stranger at Fryent country park in Wembley, north London. Bibaa Henry was a 46-year-old senior social worker, Nicole Smallman a 27-year-old photographer. A group of 10 friends had been celebrating Bibaa’s birthday with a socially distanced picnic in the park – Britain was in lockdown and indoor gatherings were banned. By 12.30am the friends had left, but Bibaa and Nicole stayed on, dancing to music, draped in fairy lights, taking joyous selfies. At 1.05am Nicole sent a text to her boyfriend, Adam Stone, saying she and Bibaa were dancing in a field by themselves.
