Shakira Spencer: Three people sentenced to life for torture murder

Shakira Spencer was subjected to "an orgy of violence", the judge said

Three people have each been jailed for at least 34 years for the murder of a woman they tortured and starved.

Mother-of-two Shakira Spencer, 35, was subjected to a campaign of cruelty and humiliation, the Old Bailey heard.

After inflicting fatal injuries, Ashana Studholme, Lisa Richardson and Shaun Pendlebury left her body to decompose at her home in Ealing, west London, in September 2022.

The leader of the trio, Studholme, 39, had initially befriended Ms Spencer.

• 'She was viewed as less than human'

The defendants, who were found guilty in December, subjected her to an "orgy of violence", Judge Angela Rafferty said.

At Friday's sentencing hearing, which was attended by members of Ms Spencer's family, the court was shown footage the three had filmed of them abusing her in the weeks before her death.

Ms Spencer, pictured on the left in 2017, was once a healthy young woman but was unrecognisable by the time she died in 2022

Prosecutor Ben Holt said it showed they had enjoyed the violence they inflicted on Ms Spencer.

He described the brutality in the case as "wholly exceptional".

Blowtorch

Over a weekend in September 2022, the killers carried out their final sustained attacks on her, their trial heard.

Boiling water was poured over Ms Spencer, a lighter and spray can were used as a blowtorch, burning her face, and she was beaten around the head with a blunt object.

The dying woman was then driven to her home and bundled into a cupboard. Her body was later moved to a bunk bed where it was left to decompose.

Held Captive and Left to Die

Watch the full story of Shakira Spencer on BBC iPlayer (UK Only).

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Shakira Spencer (right) gradually fell under the control of Ashana Studholme

Addressing Pendlebury and 45-year-old Richardson, Judge Rafferty said: "The lack of pity, empathy or decency towards Shakira was marked in everything you said, even when on trial in front of a jury.

"None of you take any responsibility and continue to blame each other. You have no remorse. Your only concern continues to be for yourselves.

"Please understand that you may never be released. The prison service will manage you and try to reduce the risk that you are to the public, if that is possible. You will be subject to the terms of your life sentence for the rest of your lives."

'Pack of manipulative lies'

Adding that Studholme was not "mentally ill or psychotic", the judge told her: "You have a personality that is aggressive, dominant and manipulative.

"You took full advantage of Shakira Spencer. You have told the probation officer a pack of manipulative lies and shown no remorse whatsoever."

Judge Rafferty told Pendlebury, 26, that he had a "low IQ" and was "compliant and a follower rather than a leader", but had also been a "fully involved member of this group who tortured Shakira sadistically".

Judge Rafferty said that Ms Spencer's son had described the heartbreak caused by his mum's killing. "He never got to say goodbye to her and that the thought of her dying alone and feeling unloved was something he would think about forever," she said.

Shaun Pendlebury, Ashana Studholme and Lisa Richardson were only concerned for themselves, the judge said

In a personal statement read to the court, Ms Spencer's father Lloyd Camacho described his daughter as vulnerable. He said the family's heart had been torn out by her murder.

In her statement, Ms Spencer's mother Merjia Spencer compared the killers with a pack of animals.

Judge Rafferty told them they had shown no remorse and their only concern was for themselves.

She said Ms Spencer had become a commodity and an object to them.

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