Zara Aleena murder: Jordan McSweeney jailed for at least 38 years

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The man convicted of murdering the law graduate Zara Aleena in a “savage” sexual attack after breaching his licence conditions for a previous offence has been sentenced to life in prison.

Jordan McSweeney, 29, pleaded guilty last month to the murder and sexual assault of Aleena in Ilford, east London, in the early hoursof 26 June this year as she was walking home.

He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 38 years by Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

She said: “The sentence for the brutal sexually motivated murder of Zara Alina is imprisonment for life. The defendant will serve 38 years as the minimum term.”

“The defendant is a pugnacious and deeply violent man with a propensity to violence,” she said.

McSweeney refused to appear for the hearing or sentencing, a decision the judge said showed he “no spine whatsoever”. George Carter-Stephenson KC, defending, told the court McSweeney knew CCTV footage would be played at the sentencing hearing and that he did not want to “relive” the incident.

Aleena, 35, who worked as a court official, was followed, grabbed from behind, pulled from the street and dragged on to a driveway before McSweeney kicked and stamped on her.

Oliver Glasgow KC, prosecuting, said: “The defendant attacked Zara Aleena with a savagery that is almost impossible to believe”. He told the court how McSweeney “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”.

There was a gasp in court as video footage of McSweeney grabbing Aleena was played at the hearing.

Glasgow said Aleena was found “bleeding profusely, struggling to breathe, partially naked and with severe head injuries”. After being treated by paramedics, she was taken to Royal London hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 10am, the court heard.

The cause of death was “compression of the neck and blunt force to the head”, Glasgow said.

Aleena had spent the evening with her friend Bhamini Bati, who sent her WhatsApp message three minutes after the attack, which read: “Y home hun?”, the court heard.

McSweeney committed the murder nine days after being released on licence from prison on 17 June for an earlier offence of robbery. The Guardian revealed last month he had been recalled to prison two days before the attack and should not have been free.

An internal review was conducted into how McSweeney, who had 28 convictions for 69 previous offences, had failed to be recalled. The Metropolitan police confirmed the Probation Service had started proceedings on 22 June after McSweeney missed two appointments.

The force said it was informed on 24 June and attended an address linked to McSweeney the following day to arrest him but he was not there. He was subsequently arrested on 27 June.

A spokesperson said: “The actions of officers following McSweeney’s recall to prison were reviewed by officers from the Met’s directorate of professional standards who found there was no indication of misconduct.”

CCTV footage from the scene was played to the court showing McSweeney appearing to target four other women before he followed Aleena. Those women had a “very lucky escape”, Glasgow told the court.

After the killing, he was seen on other video footage returning to a caravan on a fairground, where police recovered Aleena’s bloodstained clothes.

Glasgow told the court: “His predatory pursuit of women, and his violent sexual assault and vicious murder of Zara Aleena were caught on various CCTV cameras.”

After being arrested, McSweeney refused to answer questions in a police interview. He “yawned and said that he was bored”, the court heard. The court was told McSweeney had previously committed a string of offences. He had been in prison for criminal damage, racially aggravated harassment and unauthorised possession of a knife in prison, the court heard.

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

Her aunt Farah Naz, told the court: “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 … If she were able to speak today she would say I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Glasgow said she was “only minutes from her front door” at the time of the attack. He added: “She had every right to feel safe on the street – streets where she lived and which she knew well – but once she had become a target for this defendant that right was taken from her in a terrifying and ruthless manner and, quite simply, she stood no chance of survival.”

Carter-Stephenson said McSweeney “accepted responsibility” for his actions.

In mitigation he said, McSweeney’s grew up with domestic violence and his first memory of his father was he tried to drown his mother in a bath.

Demonstrators from the charity Refuge, which helps women and children overcome and physical and emotional abuse, and the campaign group Reclaim the Streets gathered outside the court to demand an end to violence against women and girls.

They held placards showing a photograph of Aleena with the words “never forgotten”.