Haunting last images of mum who was tortured and starved to death

These are the haunting last images of a mother who was tortured, starved and killed by her former partner, neighbour and friend.

Shakira Spencer, 35, died following a ‘sadistic’ campaign of abuse by her one-time boyfriend, Shaun Pendlebury, 26, their friend Lisa Richardson, 44, and her former neighbour Ashana Studholme, 38.

CCTV footage dated September 10 2022 shows the last time the mother was seen in public, slowly crossing the road before the final assault which killed her a day or two later.

Ms Spencer, who was a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16, appeared skeletal and gaunt.

In the months leading up to her death, the three killers fed her sachets of ketchup before battering her to death in ‘the most savage and inhumane way imaginable’.

The abuse reached a ‘frenzied climax’ when Shakira was beaten ‘to the brink of death’ at Studholme’s home, the jury was told.

She was bundled in the boot of a car, driven back to her flat and locked in a cupboard.

Pendlebury, Richardson and Studholme were all sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

During sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Angela Rafferty KC said: ‘None of you took any responsibility and you continue to blame each other to this day – you have no remorse.

‘This murder is marked by extreme, calculated and brutal violence and torture.

The judge said it was an ‘orgy of violence’, adding: ‘I am of no doubt that you all intended to kill Shakira.

‘This was a sadistic campaign in which you all took pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering on a vulnerable woman.’

Her body was discovered around two weeks later after neighbours noticed maggots crawling out of her flat in Ealing, west London, the Old Bailey heard.

Post-mortem tests found crushing injuries to her ear, cuts to her scalp and scalding wounds to her feet, but her body was in such a bad state that her exact cause of death could not be determined.

Shakira was a mother-of-two and was described by one neighbour as a ‘loveable person, but very slow and socially awkward who presented as someone with learning difficulties’, the BBC reports.

In an impact statement read to the court, Ms Spencer’s son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: ‘I’ve suffered with daily nightmares and anxiety over what happened to her, I cannot get the horrible image of my mother looking skinny and unwell out of my head.

‘Why were they (the defendants) so heartless? What could cause them to torture another human? I hope that every day they feel bad for the choices they have made.

‘I cannot believe people she thought were her friends would ever do this to her. These people are cruel and evil, they do not deserve to live a normal happy life again.

‘To me, my mum was the best – she was not perfect but she made me feel happy, safe and loved, I miss her every day and wish for a chance to see and speak with her again.

‘I never got to say goodbye to her, or to tell her that I loved her – these people let her die alone with her feeling she was unloved, as they had taken everybody away from her.’

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