MPS determined ‘every woman should feel safe’ after man jailed for Zara Aleena’s murder

It comes after the man who pleaded guilty to murdering law student Zara Aleena in a frenzied and sexually motivated attack in East London was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 38 years.

The MPS said it was a “ferocious and repetitive attack that shocked even experienced murder detectives”.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had thanked the MPS for the “thoroughness” of its investigation after 29-year-old Jordan McSweeney, of no fixed address, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Wednesday (December 14) having pleaded guilty to murder and sexual assault at the same court last month.

Ms Aleena was walking home along Cranbrook Road in Ilford in the early hours of Sunday, June 26, when she was approached from behind and dragged into a driveway by McSweeney. He subjected her to a brutal attack, returning multiple times to deliver repeated blows, leaving her with significant injuries.

Neighbours and passers-by tried their best to provide first aid to Ms Aleena until the arrival of paramedics, with one person giving her CPR. She was rushed to hospital but died later that morning. She was just 35.

Ms Aleena’s aunt, Farah Naz, said on behalf of the family: “Today’s sentencing protects the public from a man who cannot and must not live freely in the world.

“His extreme indifference both to Zara’s life and for the law makes him a very dangerous man. We have some retribution, but no peace.

“There are questions to be answered, there are lessons to be learnt, and changes to be made.

“Zara’s life was senselessly and brutally crushed, and today, like every other day we live with the horror she was forced to face.

“Zara was the light, the warmth, the birdsong, the laughter in our family. We live with a profound loss each day and each day we are destroyed a little more.

“We are deeply touched by the kindness we have felt from so many, and this is testament to the power of Zara’s spirit.”

The investigation found that McSweeney, who had been released from prison on June 17 on licence, had spent the evening of June 25 in a bar in Ilford, drinking heavily, before being ejected at around 11pm.

Over the course of the next three hours, he can be seen on CCTV footage to roam around Ilford and nearby Manor Park, visibly drunk, following multiple lone women, two for prolonged periods.

One of the women was seen on camera running down a residential street to get away.

“Shortly after 2am, McSweeney spotted Ms Aleena on Cranbrook Road,” said the MPS. “He can be seen to follow her for around ten minutes before attacking her in the driveway of a house near to the junction with Cranbrook Rise, causing the serious injuries from which she would tragically not recover.”

Following Ms Aleena’s death, detectives from the MPS’s Specialist Crime Command launched an immediate investigation and identified footage that showed McSweeney – who at the time had not been identified by name – as the attacker.

His image was circulated within the MPS and to the public. An officer who had dealt with him for a previous offence was able to provide detectives with his name and a fingerprint found in blood at the scene was compared with police records to confirm a match.

Simultaneously, detectives were examining footage from multiple CCTV cameras, tracking McSweeney as he calmly left the scene of the murder, walked back along Cranbrook Road and climbed over a fence into nearby Valentines Park where, at the time, a fairground was based.

On the afternoon of Monday, June 27 – around 36 hours after the attack – officers were sent to the fairground to make further inquiries. They confirmed McSweeney was staying on site and at 2.40pm, arrested him on suspicion of murder and rape.

While he was in custody, further CCTV inquiries were carried out at the fairground. Footage showed that hours after he had murdered Ms Aleena, he walked across the site wearing the same vest top as in the footage of the attack, carrying a bag. Minutes later he returned to his caravan, having discarded the bag and the vest.

These items were later found elsewhere on the site, with the bag containing the shoes and other items he was wearing when he killed Ms Aleena.

In the early hours of Wednesday, June 29, McSweeney was charged with murder, rape and robbery. The latter offence related to the removal of Zara’s belongings, many of which were found discarded on his route away from the crime scene, said the MPS.

When he eventually pleaded guilty on November 18, the indictment was amended to two counts – murder and sexual assault, rather than the original offences. McSweeney accepted, as part of his plea, that the murder was sexually motivated.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who led the investigation, said: “To lose a loved one in these terrible circumstances is awful, particularly in cases where the public attention is so great. Zara’s family have shown remarkable courage and strength throughout this ordeal. My thoughts and those of my team are with them and I hope they are now given the space and privacy they need.

“Jordan McSweeney is not a sophisticated criminal. He attacked Zara out in the open on a residential street and other than a clumsy effort to hide a bag containing his belongings, he did not try to cover his tracks.

“He has admitted that the attack on Zara was sexually motivated. This is consistent with what he was seen to do on CCTV on that night, when for hours he roamed around fixated on lone women who he brazenly followed right up until they managed to reach the safety of their homes.

“This was a ferocious and repetitive attack that shocked even experienced murder detectives. The length of sentence handed down by the court is an indication of its severity.

“There is no doubt McSweeney is an extremely dangerous individual. London is a safer city, particularly for women, with him behind bars.”

Senior Crown Prosecutor, Olcay Sapanoglu, said: “This was a savage attack on a woman who was making her way home. She should have been able to get home safely but was instead subjected to horrific and shocking violence at the hands of McSweeney.

“My thanks go to the police for the thoroughness of their investigation, which allowed us to build an irrefutable case against McSweeney.

“No sentence can ever repair the grief that Zara’s family and friends will be experiencing, but I do hope they now have some small measure of comfort from this life term.

“Violence against women and girls has no place in our society. At the CPS, we are determined to bring perpetrators of these devastating crimes to justice.”

The MPS said it is determined that every woman should feel safe, and it remains committed to “doing everything possible to ensure that this is the case”.

“We are supporting the Mayor of London’s refreshed strategy which champions a public health approach to ending violence against women and girls, and places a stronger emphasis on partnership working, prevention and education,” said the force.

“We are adopting a precise community crime-fighting approach and making the best use of data and other proven tools to identify those offenders who pose the greatest risk.

“Across London, we are deploying hundreds of extra officers in town centres and high streets to reduce crime and increase confidence through greater police visibility, including for women and girls.

“We are supporting the mayor’s Women’s Night Safety Charter as well as other initiatives such as ‘Ask for Angela’ which help keep people safe in the night time economy.

“We also run operations involving officers in uniform and plain clothes in order to make busy areas hostile places for offenders, including those showing predatory behaviour towards women. This tactic is designed to prevent assaults and protect those who are most vulnerable.”

The MPS added: “Zara’s murder rocked the community in Ilford and the wider area. It focused the attention of the police and their partners on the need to redouble efforts that were already under way to ensure that women and girls can feel safe and crucially, can be safe, as they go about their lives.

In the months that have passed since, the force said officers have worked closely with Redbridge Council and other partners to listen to women in the community and to respond to their concerns.

Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell, policing commander for East Area which includes Ilford, said: “In the days after Zara’s awful murder, officers joined the community in their shock and grief. They walked alongside hundreds of people at a vigil to show their solidarity. Their commitment to do all they can to keep women safe in this area continues.

“I know that is a commitment also shared by the local authority and other organisations we work with. The onus is not on women to change. They should not have to adapt their behaviour to feel safe. They should be able to go about their lives, without fear of abuse or violence, at any time of day or night.

“Officers have been actively seeking opportunities to listen to women and to community groups. These important conversations are informing the changes being made by the police and our partners.

“Whether it is working with the council to get cameras and lighting fitted on dark routes or in underpasses, or police officers joining council teams on patrols to enforce new and innovative local powers that target street-level harassment, or deploying additional police officers in areas where we know that women need more reassurance and confidence to feel safe, we are taking action.

“We know that this is just the start of what needs to be a long-term commitment. It is one which is shared across the Met as we work tirelessly to make London a safer city for women and girls.”

McSweeney has an extensive offending history with convictions dating back to 2006 for offences including burglary, theft and assault. None of his convictions were for sexual offences.

On the afternoon of June 24, the MPS was informed by the Probation Service that he had been recalled to prison.

“In the early hours of June 25, within hours of being informed, officers attended an address linked to McSweeney to arrest him,” he force said. “He was not located at the address and no information on his whereabouts was discovered.

“The following morning, June 26, Zara Aleena was tragically murdered.

“McSweeney was located and arrested the following day. The investigation into Zara’s murder established that he had been staying in a caravan in Valentines Park where he was working at a fairground.”

The actions of officers following McSweeney’s recall to prison were reviewed by officers from the MPS’s Directorate of Professional Standards which found there was no indication of misconduct.

The review identified opportunities to improve the processes used to manage recalls to prison and highlighted some issues around the updating of Police National Computer records, but nothing that would have changed the deployment of officers or their actions.

It did not identify any missed opportunities to locate McSweeney within the relevant timescales, or to foresee the terrible crimes he would go on to commit.

A separate review into matters that fall within the remit of the Probation Service is ongoing, led by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.

In a satement following the sentencing of Sweeney, the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) said: “The horrific sexual assault and murder of Zara Aleena was yet another tragedy that might have been avoided but for criminal justice failures and  a more general failure to address endemic misogyny and racism in our culture.

“We call for an effective inquiry or resumption of inquest to enable the family to explore the wider circumstances that led to a dangerous offender free to attack Zara.

“Such an inquiry or inquest could be able to highlight various potential State failures that have been reported and demand change.

The CWJ said these include:

• The release on licence and inadequate probation supervision of a man with an horrendous history of violence particularly towards women and an absence of effective risk assessment or ability to recognise the danger he posed to women;
• The delay by probation to take enforcement action for his non compliance with the conditions of release;
• The failure of police to arrest him when a warrant was issued; and
• A general failure in policing and safeguarding to inspire any confidence from victims of domestic abuse (according to the CWJ, McSweeney had attacked previous partners who were reluctant to report him).

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said:  “We are relieved that Zara Aleena’s killer was dealt a life sentence, though we know no sentence will make up for her murder, let alone the utter devastation, grief and loss suffered by Zara’s family and friends.

“We cannot continue in a world where so many women’s lives are lost to male violence. All women should feel safe both on the streets and in their own homes, and we must all come together and play our part in making this happen.

“At Women’s Aid we will continue to call out sexism, misogyny and discrimination, which are at the root of all violence against women, but society must listen. We need urgent structural change to make the world a safer place for women and girls.

“Today, our thoughts are with Zara’s loved ones and all those who have lost loved ones to male violence.”