December trial for accused killer of Zara Aleena

An alleged killer accused of beating aspiring lawyer Zara Aleena to death as she walked home from a night out with friends will stand trial in December.

Jordan McSweeney, 29, is charged with murdering the 35-year-old in Cranbrook Road, Ilford, east London, in the early hours of Sunday 26 June.

McSweeney also tried to rape Ms Aleena and robbed her of her handbag, mobile phone and house keys, it is said.

He was due to enter pleas today for murder, robbery and attempted rape but did not attend court from HMP Belmarsh.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: ‘The 48-hour bail hearing took place in this case back in July.

‘At that hearing…trial dates in January were canvassed.

‘The court has been able to offer a date of 5 December.

‘At present all parties should be working towards the date.

‘I propose to maintain that proposed trial date for 5 December.’

McSweeney’s plea and trial preparation hearing was adjourned to 24 October.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, KC, earlier told the court: ‘The defendant has been charged in connection with the violent death of Zara who was attacked in the early hours of the morning of 26 June.

‘Emergency services were called after her body was discovered on the driveway of Cranbrook Road.

‘She was bleeding, struggling to breath, had clearly sustained serious head injuries and was also partially naked.

‘Police and paramedics attended and attempted to give life saving first aid to her but the injuries that she had sustained…were so severe that nothing could be done to save her.’

Ms Aleena had allegedly been ‘dragged’ into a driveway before she was ‘kicked and stamped on’ repeatedly.

When she was discovered after the attack, ‘she was clearly already fatally wounded as a result of the onslaught she had suffered,’ the court heard.

Mr Glasgow added: ‘[This was] a stranger attack on a lone female late at night making her way home, a woman who stood no chance of survival.’

Ms Aleena, who had recently started work at the Royal Courts of Justice, died from severe head injuries after she was attacked. Her screams woke up nearby residents who frantically dialled 999.

Paramedics rushed to the scene where they performed CPR for two hours before taking Ms Aleena to hospital at around 4.30am. She was declared dead shortly afterwards.

Earlier this year the family of Ms Aleena released a tribute which said: ‘Zara, 35, a beloved human, child, niece, cousin, granddaughter, friend to all, she was a joy to all of us.

‘She was a carer for her mother, and her grandmother. Caring for others came so naturally to her.

‘Zara was friendly, she was everybody’s friend. She was everybody’s daughter, everybody’s niece, everybody’s sister, everybody’s cousin. She was pure of heart.

‘She was a joy to all of us, her sparkling eyes and the curly, jet-black hair. Her glorious laughter and her sweet, smiling voice. Her tiny frame embodied a passionate spirit and indomitable energy.’

They said she had wanted to be a lawyer from the age of five and that she ‘put her party shoes in her bag’ and ‘walked everywhere’ because ‘she believed that a woman should be able to walk home’.

Miss Aleena is the 16th woman in London and the 52nd woman in the UK to be killed by a man in 2022.

McSweeney, of Church Elm Lane, Dagenham, is charged with murder, robbery and attempted rape.