Murder of Zara Aleena

Last updated

On 26 June 2022, Zara Aleena was sexually assaulted and murdered as she was walking home in Ilford, London, by Jordan McSweeney. [1] [2] The murder attracted attention after it was discovered McSweeney had committed numerous other offences and should have been recalled to prison.

Contents

Murder

Aleena had begun working at the Royal Courts of Justice five weeks before her death. [1]

Around 2am on 26 June, Aleena left a bar on Ilford High Street close to Ilford railway station and began walking up Cranbrook Road towards Valentines Park. At the same time, McSweeney had been thrown out of a bar for harassing staff and had subsequently approached several other women. At 2:17am, Aleena was violently attacked by McSweeney on Cranbrook Road. She was discovered collapsed on a driveway, struggling to breathe, and was taken to the Royal London Hospital where she died of her injuries. [3]

Aftermath

The murder occurred nine days after McSweeney was released from prison on licence, having been jailed for robbery. A subsequent report in The Guardian said an attempt was made to recall him to prison two days before the murder, and suggested he should not have been released in the first place. The Metropolitan Police conducted an internal review after reports were published that McSweeney had been convicted 28 times for 69 earlier offences, including nine separate spells in prison, and ought to have been recalled. McSweeney had also had a history of violence and abuse, and a restraining order was taken out against him in 2021. [1] [2] Concern had been raised on 22 June, four days before the murder, after McSweeney failed to show for two appointments. Two days later, the Metropolitan Police attempted to arrest him, but he was not at the address on their records. [1]

The Chief Inspector of Probation said the failure to assess McSweeney was caused by a lack of probation officers. London was highlighted as particularly problematic, with around half of posts remaining to be filled in some London boroughs. [2]

In December, McSweeney pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 38-year term. [1] The sentence meant he would not become eligible to be considered for parole until 7 August 2059. [4] McSweeney was not in court to hear his sentence. [5] On 3 November 2023, appeal court judges decided that this was too harsh a sentence and reduced it by five years to a minimum term of 33 years. [6] The revised sentence set a new parole eligibility date of 25 October 2053. [7]

In January 2023, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said the murder was a "terrible crime", and announced the government would take urgent action to review how McSweeney was incorrectly assessed for medium risk. [8]

Related Research Articles

Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted criminals are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives. Crimes that warrant life imprisonment are usually violent and/or dangerous. Examples of crimes that result in life sentences are murder, torture, terrorism, child abuse resulting in death, rape, espionage, treason, drug trafficking, drug possession, human trafficking, severe fraud and financial crimes, aggravated criminal damage, arson, hate crime, kidnapping, burglary, and robbery, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Prison Belmarsh</span> Mens prison in Thamesmead, London, England

His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh is a Category A men's prison in Thamesmead, southeast London, England. The prison is used in high-profile cases, particularly those concerning national security. Within the prison grounds is the High Security Unit (HSU), which consists of 48 single cells. It is run by His Majesty's Prison Service. The prison has been called "Britain's Guantanamo Bay" due to the long-term detention of terrorism suspects without charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Sharon Beshenivsky</span> Shooting of a British police officer

PC Sharon Beshenivsky was a West Yorkshire Police constable shot and killed by a criminal gang during a robbery in Bradford on 18 November 2005, becoming the seventh female police officer in Great Britain to be killed on duty. Her colleague, PC Teresa Milburn, was seriously injured in the same incident. Milburn had joined the force less than two years earlier; Beshenivsky had served only nine months as a Constable in the force at the time of her death, having been a Community Support Officer before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Prison Long Lartin</span> Mens prison in Worcestershire, England

HM Prison Long Lartin is a Category A men's prison, located in the village of South Littleton in the Wychavon district in Worcestershire, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of James Bulger</span> 1993 child murder in Liverpool, England

On 12 February 1993 in Merseyside, two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, abducted, tortured, and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Patrick Bulger. Thompson and Venables led Bulger away from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, after his mother had taken her eyes off him momentarily. His mutilated body was found on a railway line two and a half miles away in Walton, Liverpool, two days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom</span> Aspect of history

The history of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals (LGBTQI), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United Kingdom. Those targeted by such violence are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and religious beliefs and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBTQI may also be targeted.

In England and Wales, the imprisonment for public protection sentence was a form of indeterminate sentence introduced by section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and abolished in 2012. It was intended to protect the public against criminals whose crimes were not serious enough to merit a normal life sentence but who were regarded as too dangerous to be released when the term of their original sentence had expired. It is composed of a punitive "tariff" intended to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime committed, and an indeterminate period which commences after the expiration of the tariff and lasts until the Parole Board judges the prisoner no longer poses a risk to the public and is fit to be released. The equivalent for under-18s was called detention for public protection, introduced by s. 226 of the 2003 Act. The sentences came into effect on 4 April 2005.

The Elm Guest House was a hotel in Rocks Lane, near Barnes Common in southwest London. In a list produced by convicted fraudster Chris Fay, several prominent British men were alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse and child grooming at the Guest House in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Labour MP Tom Watson, having heard testimony from Carl Beech, suggested in an October 2012 statement to the House of Commons that a paedophile network which had existed at this time may have brought children to parties at the private residence.

The Peterborough ditch murders were a series of murders which took place in Cambridgeshire, England, in March 2013. All three victims were male and died from stab wounds. Their bodies were discovered dumped in ditches outside Peterborough. In Hereford, two other men were stabbed but survived. The perpetrator was Joanna Christine Dennehy, a Cambridgeshire woman, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rishi Sunak</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2022

Rishi Sunak is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2022. The first British Asian prime minister, he previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, latterly as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. Sunak has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Chalk</span> British politician (born 1976)

Alexander John Gervase Chalk is a British politician serving as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice since April 2023. He was elected Member of Parliament for Cheltenham in 2015. Chalk has previously served in other positions in the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence, and as Solicitor General for England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Tarry</span> British Labour politician, MP for Ilford South

Samuel Peter Tarry is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South since 2019. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. On 10 October 2022 he was deselected by the Ilford South Constituency Labour Party as its candidate for the next election. He remains an active member of Parliament representing the Labour Party.

Joseph McCann is an English serial rapist. In April and May 2019, McCann committed sexual attacks in Hertfordshire, London, Greater Manchester and Cheshire against 11 strangers, ranging in age from an 11-year-old boy to a 71-year-old woman. He evaded police, who suspect that he was sheltered by a "support network" across the country. For these crimes, he was tried at the Old Bailey and, on 6 December, convicted of 37 offences. Three days later, he was given 33 life sentences.

In March 2017, Nicholas Churton was murdered at his home in Wrexham by Jordan James Lee Davidson. The case resulted in three Independent Police Complaints Commission investigations. Churton, aged 67, lived alone at Crescent Close, Wrexham. He was a retired restaurateur who had run restaurants in Rossett, Wrexham and Tarporley, Cheshire. North Wales Police described him as vulnerable and partly disabled.

Events of 2022 in England. The Queen's platinum jubilee took place in February; she died in September. England's hottest temperatures on record occurred in July.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Rishi Sunak</span> Period of the Government of the United Kingdom from 2022

Rishi Sunak's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 25 October 2022 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Liz Truss. He is the first British Indian to hold the office of prime minister. As prime minister, Sunak is also serving as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union.

Events of the year 2023 in the United Kingdom. This is the year of the coronation of King Charles III.

Events of the year 2023 in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Jane Baker</span> British transgender rights activist

Sarah Jane Baker is a British transgender rights activist, author, convicted criminal, prison inmate, and artist. She created the Trans Prisoner Alliance to support trans people in prison, and was the UK's longest-serving transgender prisoner at the time of her release.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Weaver, Matthew (14 December 2022). "Zara Aleena murder: Jordan McSweeney jailed for at least 38 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Zara Aleena killer wrongly assessed as medium risk by probation". BBC News. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  3. ↑ "Zara Aleena murder: Jordan McSweeney jailed for at least 38 years". BBC News. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "Criminal sentence – Jordan Clive James McSweeney". The Law Pages. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  5. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-63970290
  6. ↑ "Zara Aleena killer Jordan McSweeney wins sentence appeal". BBC. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "Criminal sentence – Jordan Clive James McSweeney – Court of Appeal". The Law Pages. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  8. ↑ "Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister's Questions". BBC News. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.