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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Abigail O'Leary

Chilling CCTV shows Jordan McSweeney stalk Zara Aleena before murdering her on walk home

Chilling CCTV captures sex killer Jordan McSweeney stalking victim Zara Aleena before he murders her as she walks home.

McSweeney, 29, attacked the 35-year-old law graduate just nine days after he was released from prison.

Zara was just minutes from her home in Ilford, East London in the early hours of June 26 when McSweeney dragged her into a driveway and carried out the ferocious assault.

McSweeney sexually assaulted, brutally kicked and stamped on the law graduate before making off with her mobile phone, keys and handbag and leaving her for dead, the prosecution said.

CCTV footage obtained as part of the investigation into her murder shows that after she left the bar, she walked up the High Road and onto Cranbrook Road in the direction of Gants Hill Station.

McSweeney, 29, attacked the 35-year-old law graduate just nine days after he was released from prison (Metropolitan Police)

CCTV footage obtained as part of the investigation into her murder shows that after she left the bar, she walked up the High Road and onto Cranbrook Road in the direction of Gants Hill Station.

It also shows that as she walked along Cranbrook Road, she was being followed by Jordan McSweeney, a man not known to her who had been recently released from prison and was working and staying at a funfair in nearby Valentines Park.

The footage shows McSweeney approaching Zara from behind before dragging her into the front garden of a property in Cranbrook Road and attacking her.

Neighbouring residents witnessed some of the attack but their view was partially obscured by a wall.

(Metropolitan Police)

After the killing, other CCTV captured him returning to his caravan in Dagenham, where police recovered Zara's bloodstained clothes.

More bloodstains were found on a wall in Cranbrook Road with the defendant's fingerprints identified on them.

On 27 June, the day after the attack, CCTV enquires revealed that McSweeney had climbed over a fence into Valentines Park after making off from the murder scene.

Officers were sent to the park and he was found in a caravan on the funfair site. He was arrested on suspicion of murder and was ultimately charged in the early hours of 29 June.

Chilling CCTV footage captured the killer's calculated movements (Metropolitan Police)

McSweeney had only recently been released from prison and had targeted more than one woman before he preyed on Zara, the court heard.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC had said McSweeney launched an "attack upon a lone female late at night making her way home, a woman who stood no chance".

At a previous hearing, the court was told McSweeney was a prolific offender and had been released from prison on licence on June 17 - just days before the murder.

He had been in prison for criminal damage, racially aggravated harassment and unauthorised possession of a knife in prison.

Zara Aleena was only minutes from her front door when she was attacked and killed while walking home (PA)
A placard on show during a vigil in Ilford, east London, for murdered law graduate Zara Aleena (PA)

He has 28 convictions for 69 separate offences including burglary, theft of a vehicle, criminal damage, assaulting police officers and assaulting members of the public while on bail.

After his arrest, McSweeney refused to answer questions but told officers he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

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