Zara Aleena: Sexual predator Jordan McSweeney who murdered law graduate to appeal for shorter sentence
McSweeney stalked several women before fixating on Ms Aleena who he sexually assaulted before repeatedly kicking and stamping on her, leaving her for dead.
Thursday 19 October 2023 20:57, UK
A sexual predator who stalked and murdered law graduate Zara Aleena is to plea for a shorter prison sentence.
Jordan McSweeney stalked at least five women before he fixated on 35-year-old Ms Aleena as she walked home after spending an evening with friends in the early hours of June last year.
The 29-year-old followed her down Cranbrook Road in Ilford, east London, before launching his attack.
McSweeney dragged Ms Aleena into a driveway, brutally kicking and stamping on her.
Prosecutors had said she "stood no chance".
McSweeney then sexually assaulted her and left her for dead in an attack that lasted nine minutes and left Ms Aleena with 46 separate injuries resulting in her death after being rushed to hospital.
McSweeney, who refused to attend his sentencing hearing, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years in December after admitting Ms Aleena's murder and sexual assault.
He is now set to challenge this sentence as "manifestly excessive" at the Court of Appeal on Friday morning.
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'Substantial risk' to public
After his arrest following Ms Aleena's death, McSweeney refused to answer questions but told officers he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
While in custody, he was also said to have threatened police officers.
When he was remanded into custody after being charged with murder, a judge found he was a "substantial risk" to the public, especially lone women.
Ms Aleena's death led to more calls to end violence against women and girls.
Read more:
Whole-life sentences for sexual or sadistic murders
Police hunt suspect after more than 10 sex assaults
'Women are no safer' one year after Zara Aleena's murder
McSweeney released from prison a week before murder
McSweeney was known to police as a serial offender.
Previously, he had 28 convictions for 69 offences including burglary and assault and had been released from prison on licence just nine days before the murder.
In that time, his licence had been revoked after he failed to attend any meetings with probation workers.
After Ms Aleena's murder, a damning report found a catalogue of errors in the Probation Service's handling of McSweeney, which meant he was not treated as a high-risk offender and was "free" to commit this "most heinous crime".
Describing McSweeney as a "career criminal" in and out of jail since the age of 16, Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell said he "should have been considered a high-risk-of-serious-harm offender", adding: "If he had, more urgent action would have been taken to recall him to prison after he missed his supervision appointments on release from custody.
"The Probation Service failed to do so and he was free to commit this most heinous crime on an innocent, young woman."
A month-long inquest will also be conducted to consider whether police officers could have done more to find McSweeney before he murdered Ms Aleena, with the actions of prison and probation staff also taken into account.