A mum whose two daughters were murdered in a park and pictures of their bodies were taken and shared by police officers has accused Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer of "point scoring" in the Commons.
In a fiery exchange at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, the PM and the Labour leader shot insults at each other as they responded to a damning review that found homophobic, racist and sexist culture within the Metropolitan Police.
But at a round table event with Mr Starmer this morning, Mina Smallman, mum of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, told him: "Now, yesterday if I'd have been the speaker, I would have really taken you all into the naughty room, you and the Prime Minister, and said look this is not about point scoring, this is about people's lives.
"And the reason that we have the focus that we have now is because of the tenacity of the victims. It doesn't come from anywhere else.
"It's because of people like me, Doreen [Lawrence], high profile cases that you cannot escape, that it’s so in your face."
She also warned Mr Starmer that black and non-white people, as well as working class people, don't have the same relationship with the police as he or the PM does.
The Labour leader had said earlier he would "absolutely" advise his family to go to the police if they needed.
Ms Smallman told him: "If one of your daughters or family members, female family members, was attacked, would you advise them and would you expect the police to do their job?
"Now the truth of that is, of course, if your children or the PM’s or somebody who is white, middle class, speaks RP [received pronunciation], they automatically get the policing that we all deserve."
She added that it was "in the best interest" to tackle crime "even of those who do not have experience to fly tipping and burglary because they've got security, because they can afford insurance".
“If we do not get this in hand, those people will be disrupting your life because as poverty continues, they are going to rob your houses, stop you and nick your cars. So inevitably, you are going to be impacted by crime.
"And my last point is... you have to give examples, rather than sound as though you've got a catchy sound bite,” she said.
Ms Smallman was let down by the Met police force in the most unthinkable way.
Not only was her family forced to carry out their own search where they discovered her two daughters' bodies because the police failed to respond, but two officers sent to guard the crime scene took pictures of the bodies and shared them with colleagues on Whatsapp.
Ms Smallman has said she can't help but think that if her daughters had been white, the police would have searched the park and the officers would not have taken the photographs.
Her daughters were murdered by Danyal Hussein, 19, who went on a killing spree after signing a “pact with the demon” in his own blood.
Bibaa had been stabbed 12 times. Nicole, known as Nikki, had 38 stab wounds.
But the Met's horrific response to the crime meant that was not the only torment Ms Smallman would have to endure.
PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis took pictures of the bodies and shared them with colleagues on WhatsApp. They were each jailed for 33 months.
Crime and policing has come under intense scrutiny this week following the publication of a damning report that found homophobic, racist and sexist culture within the Metropolitan Police.
Baroness Casey, whose review was commissioned in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder, said there may be more officers like her killer Wayne Couzens or serial rapist David Carrick.
In a powerful end to questioning by the Home Affairs committee yesterday, Baroness Casey listed Sarah Everard, Mina Smallman's daughters, and the victims of Stephen Port and David Carrick, as she said: "The reform needed is on behalf of them... we owe it to them to get change," she said.
Mr Starmer yesterday challenged Mr Sunak over dire charge rates for rape and burglaries as he warned that "crime is out of control" under the Tories.
He said: "People are fed up to the back teeth with a Government that never takes responsibility and just tries to blame everyone."
Amid Tory jeers, Mr Starmer shouted: "If they're proud of the fact that over 98% of rapists are never put before [a court], if they want to shout about that... let them shout about it."
"You should be ashamed of yourself," he told the PM.
The Labour leader today set out four goals in Labour’s mission to make Britain’s streets safe, one of which is to restore confidence in every police force to its highest ever level.
The others included halving knife crime incidents and the levels of violence against women and girls, and improving the proportion of crime solved.
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