Haunting final picture of mom who was tortured and starved to loss of life

This is the haunting final picture of an enslaved mom who was tortured, abused and starved to loss of life, because the sadistic trio had been sentenced to life in jail.

Shakira Spencer was discovered useless in her flat in Hanwell, west London, after a neighbour raised the alarm once they noticed maggots crawling from beneath her entrance door on September 25, 2022. 

CCTV recovered by the police confirmed the final time the mom was seen in public, slowly crossing a street across the time of the assault which killed her.

In the months resulting in her homicide, the three killers – Ashana Studholme, boyfriend Shaun Pendlebury and good friend Lisa Richardson – fed her solely sachets of ketchup and turned her from a ‘lovely, glad, wholesome’ dimension 16 to a ‘skeletal’ dimension six.

A disturbing picture reveals Ms Spencer wanting gaunt and nearly unrecognisable in comparison with images of her in happier occasions.

The group who befriended a ‘sort and caring’ mom earlier than she was battered to loss of life in ‘essentially the most savage and inhumane means conceivable’ had been sentenced to life in jail on Friday.

Ms Spencer was compelled to sleep beneath newspapers within the hallway at Studholme’s dwelling and perceived by the defendants as ‘lower than human’. 

The killers handled her as a slave, tortured her with a makeshift blowtorch and boiling water poured on her from a kettle, whipped her with belts and hit her with fists and a glass bottle. They additionally poured boiling water on her toes.

The abuse reached a ‘frenzied climax’ on round September 11 and 12 final 12 months when the sufferer was overwhelmed ‘to the brink of loss of life’ at Studholme’s dwelling in what the choose described as ‘an orgy of violence’. 

CCTV dated September 10 confirmed Ms Spencer painstakingly crossing a street.

When the killers bored with their sadism, they bundled Ms Spencer into the boot of a automotive and drove her again to her flat, the place she was locked in a cabinet whereas they waited for her to die.

They then moved her to a bunk mattress the place the physique was left rotting for 2 weeks. 

Other footage confirmed Studholme shopping for cleansing merchandise to attempt to clear up the crime scene – utilizing her personal bank card.

Messages had been additionally discovered on the defendants’ telephones, together with movies of the enslaved mom being overwhelmed up as others laughed. 

Studholme, Pendlebury and Richardson had been jailed on the Old Bailey for all times with a minimal time period of 34 years for her homicide.

The courtroom heard a devastating assertion from Shakira’s mom who stated the defendants tortured and murdered her daughter ‘like a pack of animals’. 

Judge Angela Rafferty KC stated: ‘Images of Shakira earlier than she fell beneath your affect present her lively, wholesome and smiling – she is unrecognisable on the finish, emaciated and damaged.

‘All who watched it is going to be sluggish to overlook the CCTV footage of her attempting to stroll on scalded toes in the midst of the evening.

‘You, Pendlebury, lived in her flat while she slept in a motorbike shed; you, Studholme, began as a good friend however ended because the worst type of enemy an individual might have; you, Richardson, confirmed Shakira nothing however distinctive contempt and aggression.

‘Leading as much as her homicide she was routinely and regularly humiliated, degraded and dehumanised. She was loveable, smooth and trusting, straightforward to make the most of, and she or he wanted quite a lot of assist and assist.

‘Her good friend stated {that a} calculated particular person would simply be capable to exploit Shakira – she was no match for the three of you.’

In a affect assertion learn to the courtroom, Ms Spencer’s son, who can’t be named for authorized causes, stated he has suffered with every day nightmares and anxiousness over what occurred to his mom and can’t get the horrible picture of her ‘wanting skinny and unwell out of my head’.

‘Why had been they (the defendants) so heartless? What might trigger them to torture one other human? I hope that every single day they really feel dangerous for the alternatives they’ve made.

‘I can not consider individuals she thought had been her associates would ever do that to her.

‘These persons are merciless and evil, they don’t need to stay a traditional glad life once more.

‘To me, my mum was the perfect – she was not excellent however she made me really feel glad, protected and beloved, I miss her every single day and need for an opportunity to see and communicate together with her once more.

‘I by no means obtained to say goodbye to her, or to inform her that I beloved her – these individuals let her die alone together with her feeling she was unloved, as they’d taken everyone away from her.’ 

In a witness assertion learn to the Old Bailey, Shakira’s mom Merjia Spencer stated her daughter was beloved by the entire household and was a caring and candy natured particular person.

‘Shakira beloved children – she labored in a nursery when she first left faculty and I all the time joked that will put her off having her personal but it surely did not, she was actually glad when she grew to become a mum.

‘She was quiet and shy however would come out of her shell a bit when she was surrounded by family members – she deeply cared about individuals and beloved having associates to spend time with.

‘She all the time wished to be appreciated, which made her eager to please individuals, and considerate – nonetheless, this trait additionally made her weak.

‘The defendants have, over many months, taken away every part that Shakira beloved.

‘She was remoted from her household and associates, her well being deteriorated and she or he was nearly unrecognisable. The defendants weren’t content material with the entire destruction of Shakira’s life: when she was at her lowest the defendants have tortured and murdered her like a pack of animals’.

Ice was stated to be packed round Ms Spencer in a primitive bid to sluggish decomposition.

Newspapers had been fastidiously laid on the ground subsequent to the mattress as if Ms Spencer had been studying and died in her sleep, jurors heard.

An various plan to get rid of the physique in a caravan was deserted as a result of the defendants couldn’t danger transferring her because of the state of decomposition, it was prompt.

As a part of the cover-up, the defendants cleaned the sufferer’s blood, bodily fluids and DNA from their properties and eliminated all traces of their presence from Ms Spencer’s flat. 

Studholme, Pendlebury, and Richardson had been arrested on suspicion of Ms Spencer’s homicide earlier than a 3 month trial into her loss of life.

All three denied however had been convicted of homicide and stopping a lawful burial by an Old Bailey jury on Monday, December 11.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, from Scotland Yard, stated Ms Spencer was murdered in ‘essentially the most savage and inhumane means conceivable’.

He stated: ‘Shakira was a gorgeous, glad mom who was sort and had a trusting nature.

‘Shakira could possibly be weak and these defendants took benefit of that by controlling and isolating her from everybody she knew so as to management and enslave her in essentially the most dehumanising and degrading means.’

Mr Howie added: ‘Whatever their merciless and sadistic motives had been, there isn’t any acceptable rationalization for what Shakira was put by means of.

‘This was a fancy and difficult investigation. A meticulous timeline was created to tug collectively the completely different strands of proof, paralleled in opposition to one another, so as to show the defendants’ marketing campaign of controlling behaviour and violence.

‘This included the retrieval and viewing of hundreds of hours of CCTV, intensive forensic examinations, pathology, witness accounts, looking out of homes and automobiles and reviewing the defendants’ telephones.

‘That examination revealed what Shakira had been subjected to, with footage, messages and voice notes recorded by the defendants themselves that will show key.’

Leader of the trio Studholme made associates with the mother-of-two earlier than taking up her life and funds. 

Studholme beat Ms Spencer across the head with a bottle within the bed room leaving blood splattered on the partitions.

She texted Richardson and stated ‘I’ve buss her head in. I would like you right here, I’ll go to jail.’

Pendlebury then chased her with a ‘blowtorch’ manufactured from a lighter and aerosol earlier than the killers beat her within the kitchen and poured boiling water on her toes.

On the night of 12 September the sufferer was bundled into the boot of a pink Honda Civic motorized vehicle borrowed by Pendlebury from his aunt.

The couple purchased kebabs and and had been captured laughing and joking as they returned to Studholme’s dwelling.

They then started an intensive clean-up operation at Studholme’s home, shopping for supplies with cash from Ms Spencer’s financial institution accounts.

By the time Ms Spencer was killed, Studholme was ‘in receipt of all of her advantages and had management of all of her funds’.

Studholme was caught with Ms Spencer’s private documentation together with financial institution accounts, incapacity allowance purposes and Nationwide Trust fund paperwork.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter, KC, stated earlier: ‘Over the months main as much as her homicide the defendants, primarily Studholme and Richardson subdued and dominated Shakira so completely that she was beneath all of their full management.

‘She was remoted from everybody she had beforehand identified, her freewill seemingly sapped and stolen from her.

‘They stole her self-respect, her funds, took over her flat, handled her like a slave, ordering her get up within the early hours of the morning to scrub their homes, sending her to the retailers to do their errands, feeding her solely on sachets of ketchup after which in circumstances of unbelievable depravity, boasted about and every now and then photographed and filmed what they did and had been desiring to do to her.

‘This was the sluggish erosion of a human being over many months culminating in what the Crown says was a sustained, frenzied and nearly feral assault over a number of days – scalding her, blowtorching her, hitting her head, whipping her with belts and hitting with fists and a glass bottle.

‘When that did not kill her outright she was bundled right into a boot, taken to her personal flat and locked in a cabinet and denied even meals or water till she died.

‘She was then left to rot in a mattress as they tried to mop up something displaying their involvement.

‘Shakira Spencer was clearly perceived by these defendants as a species lower than human.’

Jurors had deliberated for almost 18 hours to succeed in verdicts and had been excused by the choose from jury service for all times because of the ‘harrowing nature’ of the case. 

The prosecutor beforehand informed the courtroom: ‘They stole her dwelling…took over her funds, managed her whereabouts, destroyed her garments, lower off most of her hair they usually beat her.

‘They scorched her, burnt her, beat her with a massager, left her to urinate herself after which they bundled her into the boot of a automotive, shoved her battered and bruised into a cabinet and left her to die.

‘They are responsible of homicide, and it truly is homicide of essentially the most foul.

‘They are responsible of denying an honest burial and I hope you don’t lose one second of sleep should you do discover them so.’

Pendlebury, of Ealing, Richardson, of Ealing, and Studholme, of Harrow, all denied however had been convicted of homicide and stopping a lawful burial. 

Following the sentencing Senior Crown Prosecutor Devi Kharran stated: ‘Evidence offered in the course of the trial proved that Pendlebury, Studholme and Richardson exercised twisted and sadistic management of Shakira Spencer over an prolonged interval.

‘They spun an online of lies in each effort to cover their actions.

‘The CPS constructed a robust case in opposition to them utilizing video footage filmed by the defendants themselves, cell phone proof, forensic evaluation, and a confession from Shaun Pendlebury himself to show past doubt that they had been answerable for her loss of life.

‘The degree of struggling that Shakira endured is just unimaginable.

‘Our ideas stay with all of Shakira’s household and associates. I hope this conviction brings them some sense of justice.’