Why was ‘ticking timebomb’ freed to murder Zara?
He had 28 convictions and a history of violence against women, yet killer was released from jail
A SAVAGE thug described as a ‘ticking timebomb’ with a history of beating up women yesterday admitted to killing an aspiring lawyer he ambushed late at night.
Zara Aleena, 35, was walking home after spending an evening with friends when Jordan McSweeney strangled and sexually assaulted her, and stamped on her head.
McSweeney, 29, who had been released from prison on licence days before, had earlier been following other women, apparently looking for a victim.
He pounced on 5ft 1in Miss Aleena, dragging her into a driveway in Ilford, east London. As the law graduate lay on the ground with serious head injuries, he grabbed her handbag, phone and keys.
Neighbours who heard screams called police and Miss Aleena was found partially naked and struggling to breathe. She died hours later in hospital.
Yesterday at the Old Bailey, McSweeney, of Dagenham, east London, admitted murder and sexual assault in June this year. He will be sentenced next month. During the hearing, he stared at the floor while Miss Aleena’s shattered family looked on.
It can now be revealed that he had a sickening history of bullying and beating up women and even boasted about ‘boxing my girl’ on Facebook.
Former girlfriend Stella Lowe, 22, who suffered years of violence, told the Daily Mail: ‘He was a ticking timebomb. I always knew he would do something really serious one day.’ Another ex, Samantha Bryan, 30, who dated McSweeney for four years as a teenager until he stamped on her head in a rage, splitting an eyeball, said: ‘This disgusting, vile human has always been a predator.’
Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, KC, told the Old Bailey that McSweeney had launched
‘He stamped on my head in a rage’
an ‘attack upon a lone female late at night making her way home – a woman who stood no chance’.
Mr Glasgow said: ‘ He can be seen on CCTV footage following and observing a number of different women obviously interested in them and their movements. Tragically for Zara Aleena, it was her on whom he became fixated. Having dragged her into a driveway, he forced her around and then he is seen kicking and stamping repeatedly on her body.’
After his arrest, McSweeney refused to answer questions but told police he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and threatened officers while in custody.
McSweeney already had 28 convictions for offences including burglary, possession of a knife, theft of a vehicle, criminal damage and assaulting police and members of the public.
Miss Aleena’s family released a heartbreaking tribute to her. She had just secured a job as an administrative officer at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London and was on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming a solicitor. They said: ‘ She was pure of heart. She was a joy to all of us, with her sparkling eyes and curly, jet-black hair, her glorious laughter and her sweet, smiling voice.
‘Her tiny frame embodied a passionate spirit and indomitable energy. Zara was brought up by the whole of our family. She was our love in human form.’
They added: ‘Zara believed that a woman should be able to walk home. Now her dreams of a family are shattered, her future brutally taken. Sadly, Zara is not the only one who has had her life taken at the hands of a stranger.
‘We all know women should be safe on our streets. She was in the heart of her community, ten minutes from home.’
Her aunt Farah Naz said her niece had been conscious of the dangers for women after other murders around London.
But she had felt ‘safe’ walking in her local community. She added: ‘Zara was not a woman who was unaware that there were dangers in the world. She did not imagine what happened to those women would happen to her.
‘She didn’t know she was going to be on this list because in her mind she took precautions.’
The judge adjourned sentencing until December 14. The mandatory sentence for murder is life in prison. Mrs Justice CheemaGrubb told McSweeney: ‘ You pleaded guilty to very serious matters. I’m sure you appreciate the kind of sentence you will receive.’
Last night Miss Lowe told how she also suffered horrific abuse. She believes that she might have suffered the same fate as Zara if she had not refused to meet McSweeney two days before the murder. The thug was released on licence from prison on June 17. He was recalled to jail on June 24 for breaching his licence conditions, but had not been picked up.
On the same day, he called Miss Lowe from a pub to ask her to join him. Miss Lowe refused and pushed McSweeney from her mind, only to see him named on TV as the man charged with murdering Miss Aleena on June 26. She told the Mail: ‘Part of me was contemplating seeing him, but I thought better of it. I don’t know, but this attack could have been for me. Or maybe he got angry because I wouldn’t meet him and then he later went on to do this?’
She added: ‘I would never have thought he was capable of killing someone, but if he was going to do it, it would have always been a woman. He was a coward and spent his life attacking people weaker than him.’ McSweeney met Miss Lowe at a party in 2018. She was just 18 and he was 25. The lies and controlling behaviour began almost immediately. She said: ‘ When we first met he told me he had leukaemia and was dying. We had this incredibly emotional conversation about it and I was crying, asking him about death. Then later that same night he asked me to be his girlfriend.’
She ended the relationship after a string of beatings. Miss Bryan told how her four-year relationship with McSweeney ended when he stamped on her head in a rage, splitting an eyeball. She complained to police, but no charges were brought after she decided not to pursue the matter, terrified of her attacker’s reaction. Miss Bryan met McSweeney when they were teenagers. Attracted by his ‘cheeky charm’, it quickly became clear he had a problem with women.
Miss Bryan said the violence started within months, but they stayed together for four years, with her becoming pregnant with his baby in 2010, the year he was first imprisoned for theft. He was released in time for the birth, but there was a complication and Miss Bryan lost their son, Kaden.
She said: ‘He was completely different when he came out of prison. He thought he was Mr Big Man because he’d been inside. I had literal bite marks where he had drawn blood. He was extremely violent.’ McSweeney later ‘flipped out’ and attacked his girlfriend, who said he left a footprint on her face where he stamped on her head.
She explained: ‘He split my eyeball. If it was a few millimetres over I’d have been blinded. But I didn’t proceed with charges.’
Miss Bryan’s mother posted a photo of her daughter’s battered face online with a warning: ‘Attention all parents – keep your daughters away from Jordan McSweeney or this is how she will come home.’