Serious probation failings left sex predator ‘free’ to kill law graduate Zara Aleena
A sexual predator was left ‘free’ to kill a law graduate in a ‘senseless, merciless, brutal’ attack due to a string of failings by probation staff, a watchdog has concluded.
Zara Aleena, 35, was walking home from a night out in Ilford, east London, when Jordan McSweeney dragged her into a driveway and assaulted her ‘with a savagery that is almost impossible to believe’.
The 29-year-old, now serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years, had a history of violence, having amassed 28 convictions for 69 offences dating back to when he was 12.
He was freed from prison on licence just nine days before the murder, however it later emerged that was revoked when he skipped meetings with his probation officers.
McSweeney should have been back behind bars within days of his release but he was never recalled.
Instead, he was ‘prowling the streets’ looking for a victim to attack, with CCTV footage played at the Old Bailey showing him stalking four other women before targeting Ms Aleena on June 26.
In a damning report, chief inspector of probation Justin Russell highlighted a catalogue of errors in the Probation Service’s handling of McSweeney which meant he was not treated as a high-risk offender when he should have been.
McSweeney has convictions for assaulting previous partners and making threats of serious violence towards female prison staff.
His prison record includes more than 200 adjudications against him, with several for committing ‘assault’, and for ‘using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour’.
The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb called him ‘a pugnacious and deeply violent man with a propensity to violence’.
Describing McSweeney as a ‘career criminal’, Mr Russell said he ‘should have been considered a high-risk-of-serious-harm offender’.
He added: ‘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.’
The report comes just a week after the watchdog laid bare another litany of failings by probation officers before ‘psychopathic’ killer Damien Bendall murdered three children and his pregnant partner.
Bendall, 33, is serving a whole-life order for the murders of Terri Harris, 35, her daughter Lacey Bennett, 11, her son John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, after he attacked them with a claw hammer at their home in Killamarsh, Derbyshire. He also admitted raping Lacey.
It also follows concerns raised nearly three years ago after serial rapist Joseph McCann carried out a series of sex attacks when he was freed from prison amid major failings by an ‘unstable’ team of inexperienced probation staff.
The watchdog warned it is ‘impossible to say’ the Probation Service is keeping the public safe from freed violent criminals in the wake of the blunders.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Russell said the cases reveal ‘broader systemic issues about the huge staffing pressures within probation, the workloads that line managers are struggling with’ and ‘failures’ in the quality of risk assessments.
While these are not ‘new problems’, they have become more ‘acute’ in the last couple of years.
Mr Russell warned on Tuesday: ‘Until the probation service puts those things right – and it should be an absolute priority for the service – it’s impossible to say that the public is being properly protected from the risks that people on probation pose to them, to the wider public and to the people that they live with and that they know.’
The watchdog’s report said it was ‘crucial’ the Probation Service to tackle the problems and the need to repeat the recommendations ‘yet again raises questions’ as to whether it is ‘learning the lessons of past mistakes’, adding: ‘It is vital that they do so in the future.’
Prisons and probation minister Damian Hinds said: ‘This was a despicable crime and I apologise unreservedly to Zara Aleena’s family for the unacceptable failings in this case.
‘We are taking immediate steps to address the serious issues raised by the Jordan McSweeney and Damien Bendall cases. This includes mandatory training to improve risk assessments, implementing new processes to guarantee the swift recall of offenders and we have taken disciplinary action where appropriate.
‘We are also investing £155 million a year into the Probation Service to recruit the thousands more officers who will deliver tougher supervision, protect the public and ensure these sorts of tragedies can never happen again.’
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