Zara Aleena: Jordan McSweeney jailed for at least 38 years for murdering law graduate

Sexual predator Jordan McSweeney was captured on CCTV following three other women and confronting a fourth before he targeted and killed Zara Aleena as she walked home. McSweeney was sentenced to at least 38 years after admitting to the murder and sexual assault of the 35-year-old law graduate.

McSweeney, 29, refused to come to court to be sentenced however, the Old Bailey was told he had refused to come up from the cells because he did not want to watch CCTV of what he did.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said the sentencing should go ahead in his absence, saying Ms Aleena’s family, who were present, should not have to wait any longer.

Opening the facts, prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC told how McSweeney had been ejected from a pub in Ilford, east London, after drunkenly “pestering” a member of staff on the evening of 25 June.

McSweeney stalked Ms Aleena along Cranbrook Road in Ilford, east London before grabbing her from behind and dragging her into a driveway as she walked home from a night out in the early hours of 26 June.

What was said in the hearing?

He stalked her along Cranbrook Road before grabbing her from behind and dragging her into a driveway. Mr Glasgow said: “Despite being only yards from a public street and from residential properties, the defendant attacked Zara Aleena with a savagery that is almost impossible to believe.

“He repeatedly kicked and stamped on her head and body, he tore some of her clothes from her body in order that he could sexually assault her, and then he attacked her again, kicking and stamping on her face and neck, and returning several times to continue the brutal violence.

“Finally, once satisfied that she would no longer be able to report him for what he had done, he walked away, taking her mobile telephone with him which he threw over a garden wall, thus ensuring that neither she nor anyone else who might find her could use the phone to call for help.

“He walked back the caravan where he was living and the following morning, having hidden the bloodstained clothes and shoes he had been wearing during the attack, was seen laughing and joking with his friends; seemingly without any concern for what he had done or for the fate he had forced upon Zara Aleena.”

Ms Aleena was found with severe head injuries and struggling to breathe and emergency services were called at 2.44am. She died in hospital from compression to the neck and blunt force to the head.

What has Zara Aleena’s family said?

Zara Aleena’s aunt Farah Naz set out the impact of her niece’s “senseless, merciless, brutal, attack”. She spoke out to help “deepen understanding of how a family is destroyed in such a short time” and encourage an intelligent conversation about “what we all need to do as a society”.

Speaking in court, Ms Naz said: “We lost her and more. When a human is murdered, a family is murdered. And when a human is murdered, humanity is murdered. Everything she was, everything she worked so hard for, every dream was destroyed by someone she did not even know, someone else’s sense of entitlement. She was just walking home.”

What did McSweeney’s defence say?

In mitigation, George Carter-Stephenson KC outlined McSweeney’s “far-from-ideal” childhood in which domestic violence was “the norm”. His mother was a drug addict and his father was largely absent, he said.

McSweeney’s first memory of his father was of him “attempting to drown his mother in the bath”, the defence lawyer said. The defendant described his mother as a “very spiteful, vindictive and horribly poisonous person”. He was taken into care, expelled from school and began drug dealing and “bare knuckle fighting for money”, the court heard.

Mr Carter-Stephenson said: “To a certain extent Mr McSweeney was a damaged person from very early on in his childhood. He had seen trauma and violence, so damaged in relation to his ability to form emotional attachments.

“Then one has to add in that he suffers from ADHD, mixed depression and anxiety disorder, substance misuse and a personality disorder, all of which interact and all of which cause him problems. The lawyer said McSweeney “has no real memory” of events due to the amount of alcohol and illicit substances he had consumed.

He added that McSweeney was “truly for sorry for what he has done”. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb queried: “Where is the evidence of that?” The defence lawyer said it was what he had been instructed by his client to convey. The senior judge replied: “That is not evidence I am prepared to accept.”

Mr Carter-Stephenson added that his remorse was demonstrated by his guilty plea and McSweeney had said that “when he thinks about it, it makes him feel sick”.

What did the judge say?

Sentencing Jordan McSweeney for the murder of Zara Aleena in his absence, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: “Nothing he was deprived of in terms of familial love, boundaries, safety or security could begin to justify his actions or attitudes as an independent adult with the ability to reason and opportunities to reform available to him.”

The senior judge said that just nine days after his release from prison and after his licence had been revoked, McSweeney was “prowling” the streets of Ilford, looking for a woman to attack.

His victim had a character that was “the opposite” of his, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said.

The sentence on Wednesday, was televised and Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb jailed McSweeney in his absence. She said: Ms Aleena was a talented and spirited woman, adding: “The defendant had the advantage of strength and surprise. In everything else, she was better than him. She was simply a happy, healthy woman living her life in what most Londoners think of as the best city in the world.” She added that McSweeney’s decision not to come to court to face justice showed he had “no spine whatsoever”.