Zara Aleena: killer free to commit murder after ‘bungled assessment’

Failings by probation officers left a sexual predator to kill Zara Aleena just days after he was released from prison, a watchdog has found.

Jordan McSweeney, 29, was jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years after admitting to the murder last month.

In a “damning” report, said ITV News, chief inspector of probation Justin Russell “highlighted a catalogue of errors” by the probation service.

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What happened to Zara Aleena?

The 35-year-old law graduate was walking home from a night out in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of Sunday 26 June when she was attacked.

McSweeney followed her before subjecting her to a “brutal attack” that left her with “significant injuries”, said the Crown Prosecution Service. Aleena, who was sexually assaulted, kicked and stamped on, died in hospital later that morning.

Her best friend said Aleena had insisted they would be safe on the city’s streets despite the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, reported the Daily Mail.

What went wrong at the Probation Service?

McSweeney had a “string of convictions and a history of violence” when he was released from prison nine days before Aleena’s murder, said ITV News. He had continued to be violent behind bars and even carried a weapon.

Yet probation officers assessed him as “medium” rather than “high” risk.

“As a result of the bungled assessment, he was placed on a lower level of supervision,” said The Telegraph. When he missed appointments with probation officers, they delayed recalling him to jail. “This denied police the chance to arrest him and prevent the murder of Aleena in east London,” said the newspaper.

The chief inspector of probation said McSweeney had been “free to commit this most heinous crime” on an “innocent, young” woman. He added that the probation staff involved were “experiencing unmanageable workloads made worse by high staff vacancy rates”.

Aleena’s aunt and family spokesperson, Farah Naz, told The Guardian the probation service and government “have blood on their hands”.

Damian Hinds, the prisons and probation minister, apologised “unreservedly” to the family for the “unacceptable failings” and said “immediate steps” were being made to fix the problems. This included better training and processes, and £155m a year to recruit more officers.