Zara Aleena inquest jury says police and probation failures contributed to tragic death
Newly released prisoner Jordan McSweeney sexually assaulted then beat to death the law graduate as she walked home in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of June 26 2022.
Failures “across multiple agencies” including the Met Police and Probation Service contributed to the death of Zara Aleena at the hands of newly released prisoner Jordan McSweeney, an inquest jury has found.
McSweeney sexually assaulted the law graduate and then beat her to death as she walked home in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of June 26 2022.
The murderer was released from prison on June 17 2022, nine days before he killed the 35-year-old, after following other women.
The inquest heard of multiple failings in the monitoring of McSweeney after he failed to show up to his first probation meeting.
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He is now serving a minimum sentence of 33 years after admitting murder and sexual assault. In November 2023, McSweeney won a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the minimum term of his life sentence.
The inquest jury was asked on Tuesday to consider whether any failings by the prison and probation services, as well as the Metropolitan Police, contributed to Aleena's death.
On Monday, area coroner Nadia Persaud addressed the jurors at East London Coroner's Court before sending them out to begin their deliberations.
She told them they must decide "where, when and how she came by her death".
Aleena died in hospital from a blunt force head injury and neck compression, said the jury.
Ms Persaud paid tribute to Aleena and said: “I would like to send my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Zara.”
A video montage of pictures and videos from throughout Aleena’s life was played to East London Coroner’s Court on Wednesday.
Police were unable to make contact with McSweeney after he was released on licence on June 17 2022, but probation waited five days before initiating his recall to prison.
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He missed his probation appointment on the day he was let out, and his mother told staff he had passed out drunk at her house.
It was rescheduled twice but McSweeney did not attend either appointment, and when officers approached his mother again she said she did not know where he was.
Despite the lack of contact, his recall was not initiated until June 22 and the recall report was signed on June 24 2022.
Police were given powers to arrest McSweeney at 4.10pm the same day.
In the early hours of June 26, McSweeney murdered Ms Aleena.
His probation worker, recently qualified Austin Uwaifo, said McSweeney should have been graded high risk and, had he been, he would have pushed for him to have been recalled to prison earlier.
Mr Uwaifo said: “At the time, the thinking was that because he came out on the Friday, my thinking was to give him the opportunity to return – possibly he came out and decided to, for whatever reason, decided to go out and get drunk.”
Mr Uwaifo said the probation office was not staffed over the weekend but that he would have requested a faster out-of-hours emergency recall if McSweeney had been graded high risk.
The police officer who actioned McSweeney’s recall said initial inquiries into his whereabouts were closed prematurely and more checks should have been carried out.
Metropolitan Police operations sergeant Ian Batten said he did not foresee that McSweeney was a risk to the public after receiving a recall to prison notice for him on June 24 2022.
Sgt Batten also said he did not know initial inquiries into McSweeney’s whereabouts were closed before the end of his shift.
