Zara Aleena's killer Jordan McSweeney leaves sentence appeal hearing

Zara Aleena received 46 separate injuries in the attack

A sexual predator who stalked and killed Zara Aleena left his Court of Appeal hearing part way through.

Jordan McSweeney, 30, is trying to win a reduction to his minimum term of 38 years for murder and sexual assault.

Ms Aleena's family has said the killer's appeal has "reignited the agony" of their loss.

McSweeney attacked the law graduate in Ilford, east London in June 2022, nine days after being released from prison on licence.

He appeared for the start of proceedings on Friday via video-link from Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire, but after about 45 minutes, the hearing was paused and McSweeney departed.

A prison officer, who appeared on the video-link with the inmate, told the court: "He's heard enough and has got everything he requires in his cell."

'Spineless'

Ms Aleena's aunt Farah Naz said the appeal, coming after a trial, had caused them "profound distress".

"We firmly believe that his minimum sentence should not be reduced, and he should serve a life imprisonment for the inhuman act he committed."

Referring to his refusal to attend his original sentencing hearing, Ms Naz said: "It is beyond belief that this individual, who was too spineless to attend his own sentencing, has the audacity to appeal the very sentence he couldn't be bothered to witness."

At the start of the appeal hearing, McSweeney's barrister George Carter-Stephenson KC said the sentencing judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, had wrongly factored in the "aggravating features" in the case.

Mr Carter-Stephenson said it was accepted there was a sexual motive to the crime but argued the murder of 35-year-old Ms Aleena itself was not premeditated.

He told the court: "The attack was an opportunistic act rather than anything that was planned in advance."

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Mr Carter-Stephenson also argued that McSweeney's ADHD should have been taken into account when he was sentenced in December.

However, Oliver Glasgow KC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the suggestion McSweeney had not intended to kill Ms Aleena was "unsustainable".

He told the court McSweeney had spent two hours stalking several women before turning his attention to Ms Aleena.

The barrister said: "This was not a moment of impulsive aggression. It was a considered act and the product of hours of pursuing women along the streets."

Mr Glasgow added there had been no expression of remorse from McSweeney and noted he had not attended his sentencing and left his appeal hearing.

The barrister described the attack as "utterly abhorrent" and said the sentencing judge had been right to find McSweeney had no mitigation aside from his guilty pleas.

Lady Chief Justice Lady Carr, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said their decision would be given in writing "as soon as possible".

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