Zara Aleena’s death should have been prevented, says aunt

The aunt of Zara Aleena has said “her brutal murder could and should have been prevented” after an inquest found that failures by multiple agencies contributed to her death.

Jordan McSweeney killed the 35-year-old law graduate as she walked home from a night out in Ilford in the early hours of June 26 2022, nine days after he was released from prison.

Aleena died in hospital from a blunt force head injury and neck compression, the jury said.

The inquest’s jury found “Zara’s death was contributed to by the failure of multiple state agencies to act in accordance to policies and procedures – to share intelligence, accurately assess risk of serious harm, [and] act and plan in response to the risk in a sufficient, timely and co-ordinated way”.

In a statement, Farah Naz said her family remain “devastated by our enormous loss”.

“Zara should be alive today,” she said.

“Her brutal murder could and should have been prevented. It is clear from the evidence we have heard that there are significant issues of under-resourcing across the system.”

She added she remains committed to campaigning to end male violence against women and girls in Aleena’s name.

“We hope Zara’s legacy will be real change for women and girls,” she said.

Nadia Persaud, the area coroner, paid tribute to Aleena, who died two years to the day, 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.

McSweeney was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years at the Old Bailey in December 2022 after admitting Aleena’s murder and sexual assault.

In November 2023, he won a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the minimum term of his life sentence.

Ms Persaud had asked jurors to consider whether any failings by the prison and probation services or Metropolitan Police contributed to Aleena’s death.

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.

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 Aleena.

McSweeney should have been graded high risk

Austin Uwaifo, his recently qualified probation worker, 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.”

He 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.