Shakira Spencer: Three jailed for murdering woman they tortured, starved and burnt

Three people have been jailed for murdering a vulnerable woman who they starved, tortured and burnt.

Ashana Studholme, 39, Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and Lisa Richardson, 45, were handed life sentences with a minimum term of 34 years each for killing Shakira Spencer and preventing her lawful burial.

The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday March 1.

Ms Spencer, 35, was subject to a campaign of beatings, enslavement, coercion and control, humiliation and degradation over a period of months, the Met Police said.

This culminated in a frenzied, violent assault reaching a climax between September 9 and 12 2022, from which the mother-of-two most likely died on September 14 2022. 

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Instead of taking her to hospital, Pendlebury and Studholme drove Shakira back to her home in the boot of a car, bundled her in a cupboard and left her to die.

Officers were called to Holbeck Road, Ealing on September 25 2022 after concerns were raised for the welfare of the woman inside the property.

Police forced entry into the property, and found the body of a woman who was later identified as Ms Spencer.

Later, that night one of Pendlebury’s relatives called police to say that he had confessed to being involved in the killing of a woman and that Studholme and Richardson were also involved. The trio were arrested just hours later and taken into custody.

In a statement, Ms Spencer’s family said: "Shakira was a beautiful soul who cared deeply about people and loved spending time with her family and friends. She was always thoughtful and wanted to be liked. Her eagerness to please people made her vulnerable.

"We have struggled as a family to come to terms with the fact that Shakira was controlled, enslaved and tortured by the defendants in the months leading up to her murder. The defendants took over her flat whilst she slept in the bike shed. They isolated her from her family and friends. Her children were poisoned against her. Shakira’s health deteriorated to the point she was almost unrecognisable. Her life was reduced to an empty and miserable existence. We will never be able to comprehend the defendants’ cruelty when Shakira would have only wanted to be their friend. We can only think that the defendants have done this for their own sadistic pleasure.

"We were incredibly pleased and relieved when we found out that all three defendants would be held accountable for their heinous crimes. However, nothing will bring Shakira back to us and her children will now grow up without their mother."

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie said: “No sentence can ever bring Shakira back, or compensate for the loss of such a beloved family member, but my team and I are glad to see that the terms handed down today mean these three evil people will spend many, many years behind bars.

"During the trial Shakira's family and friends listened to deeply traumatising evidence of the depraved acts of cruel torment committed by the three defendants. They murdered Shakira in the most savage and inhumane way imaginable.

"Shakira was a beautiful, happy mother who was kind and had a trusting nature. Shakira could be vulnerable and these defendants took advantage of that by controlling and isolating her from everyone she knew in order to control and enslave her in the most dehumanising and degrading way.

“The family’s ordeal has been compounded by the behaviour of the defendants, who have each lied, providing implausible accounts and explanations to try and absolve themselves of any responsibility. Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives were, there is no acceptable explanation for what Shakira was put through.”