LET DOWN Zara Aleena failed by ‘multiple agencies’ before she was murdered by killer just days after he was released from jail
ZARA Aleena was failed by 'multiple agencies' before she was murdered just days after her killer was released from jail.
Law graduate Zara, 35, was murdered as she walked home from a night out in east London in June 2022
Failures "across multiple agencies" contributed to her death, an inquest jury has found today.
Jordan McSweeney was jailed for life with a minimum term of 33 years at the Old Bailey for Zara's murder, rape and sexual assault.
He had been released from prison on licence nine days before his attack on Zara as she walked home from a night out in Ilford.
A probation report in January found he was not categorised as a high-risk offender when he should have been.Just one member of staff faced disciplinary action over the case and no-one was sacked, according to the watchdog's report.
Zara died in hospital from a blunt force head injury and neck compression, the inquest jury said.
Area coroner Nadia Persaud paid tribute to Zara, who died two years ago to the day.
Ms Persaud 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 Zara's life was played to East London Coroner’s Court.
McSweeney was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years at the Old Bailey in December 2022 after admitting Ms Aleena’s murder and sexual assault.
In November 2023, he won a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the minimum term.
Evil McSweeney pounced on Zara as she walked home just nine days after he was released from a prison sentence.
The licence McSweeney was on at the time for a string of offences had been revoked after he failed to meet probation officers.
But he was not recalled to prison - and was free to roam the streets hunting for a victim.
McSweeney was on licence for criminal damage, racially aggravated harassment and unauthorised possession of a knife in prison.
He had 28 previous convictions for 69 offences including burglary, assaults on police and assaults on members of the public.
In the early hours of June 26, 2022, McSweeney was captured on CCTV stalking the streets of East London.
At least four other women managed to escape the killer's clutches as he followed them in the darkness.
One even ran for safety into a home on the same street were Zara was brutally murdered.Her family previously told the inquest how they are "tortured by thoughts that Zara's death was preventable".
Aunt Farah Naz said her niece's murder showed "the crumbling justice system that is meant to protect all of us, especially women and girls".
LITANY OF FAILURES
SETTING out a string of key failures in the case, the watchdog found:
The risk assessment was inaccurate
McSweeney should have been classed as high risk instead of medium.
This level should have been raised in February 2021 - more than a year before he killed Ms Aleena in London - when he was charged with grievous bodily harm and robbery.
In a court report in 2018, a probation officer previously involved with his case "recommended his risk level should be reviewed and potentially escalated should he commit another violent offence".
But chief inspector of probation Justin Russell said: "In practice that didn't happen."
Subsequent opportunities to review that risk level and correctly raise it were then missed.
Mr Russell also highlighted a "failure" to take into account McSweeney's "concerning" and "violent" behaviour behind bars.
Over the course of 2021 and in the first half of 2022, there were 15 intelligence logs on McSweeney at two prisons but there was "no evidence" these were considered by probation officers.
The Prison Service was asked for information on his behaviour in custody but the information was "not supplied" to probation officers, Mr Russell said.
Significant delays in allocating a probation officer
This should have happened once McSweeney was sentenced in April 2022 but one was only allocated nine days before his release in June.
This meant no proper risk assessment was carried out by the Probation Service before McSweeney was freed.
The time to plan his release was, as a result, "minimal and limited", Mr Russell said.
Probation officers did not have an address for McSweeney when he was released.
Chances to impose tougher licence conditions, such as making him wear a GPS tag to track his movements, were also missed.
Missed opportunities to recall him to prison quickly
After being released from prison on Friday June 17 2022, McSweeney failed to attend his initial probation appointment.
When officers phoned his mother, she said he was at her home but too drunk to attend, Mr Russell said.
He missed two subsequent appointments, on Monday June 20 and Wednesday June 22.
Probation officers then started the process of recalling him to prison but crucial paperwork was not signed off until 48 hours later, on Friday June 24, because a line manager was juggling a heavy workload, Mr Russell said, missing the 24-hour target time frame.
McSweeney's licence was revoked on the same day, making him liable for arrest by the police.
But he went on to attack and kill Ms Aleena 36 hours later.
The watchdog's inspectors concluded McSweeney should have been recalled two days earlier, as soon as he missed the first appointment, which would have given police more time to track him down.
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