Zara Aleena murder: What does the probation review report say about Jordan McSweeney?
and live on Freeview channel 276
A failure by the probation service to treat a violent offender as “high risk” left him free to murder and sexualy assault in Ilford, a review has found.
Zara Aleena, 35, was attacked and killed by Jordan McSweeney as she walked home in June 2022, nine days after he was released on licence from prison.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIn December, the 29-year-old killer was sentenced to 38 years behind bars.
A review of the case was ordered last July by justice secretary Dominic Raab, and in a report published today HM Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell highlights a number of failings.
He said in a statement: “Jordan McSweeney should have been considered a high risk of serious harm offender. If he had, more urgent action would have been taken to recall him to prison, after he missed his supervision appointments on release from custody. The Probation Service failed to do so, and he was free to commit this most heinous crime on an innocent, young women.”
He referenced workloads and other pressures on the Probation Service as factors in the failings.
Prisons and Probation Minister Damian Hinds said the government is taking “immediate steps to address the serious issues raised”.
He promised improvements to risk assessments and training.
Key Events
- Probation treated killer Jordan McSweeney as “medium risk”
- Opportunities were missed to arrest McSweeney
- Damian Hinds, probation minister, apologised “unreservedly to Zara Aleena’s family”
- Probation failings “symptomatic of wider issues”, says Sadiq Khan
Opportunities missed
Mr Russell said there were failures of communication and that opportunities to find and arrest McSweeney were missed.
“Prison and probation services didn’t communicate effectively about McSweeney’s risks, leaving the Probation Service with an incomplete picture of someone who was likely to reoffend,” he said.
“Following his release from prison and successive appointments being missed, the Probation Service failed to take prompt action to recall him to custody. Once that decision had been made, there were also delays in signing the necessary paperwork to initiate the recall. Had this been done sooner, opportunities for the police to locate and arrest McSweeney would have been maximised.”
Heavy workloads and high vacancy rates
Mr Russell said: “Our independent review brings into sharp focus the consequences of these missed opportunities and reveals a Probation Service, in London, under the mounting pressure of heavy workloads and high vacancy rates.”
He added: “All the evidence shows that McSweeney should have been assessed, on release from prison, as high risk of serious harm.
“Instead, he was incorrectly assessed as being of medium risk because each of the offences, his behaviours in prison, and his criminal history, had been reviewed in isolation.
“Probation staff involved were also experiencing unmanageable workloads made worse by high staff vacancy rates – something we have increasingly seen in our local inspections of services.”
Violent and threatening
HM Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell talked about a number of significant warning signs that McSweeney should have been treated as high risk by the Probation Service at the time.
He said: “McSweeney murdered Zara just days after being released from prison. During his sentence, he was considered a violent and threatening man – to other prisoners and to prison staff – and had carried weapons. Known to the criminal justice system, since 2005, McSweeney had been imprisoned many times before, and had displayed violent and racially aggravated behaviour. He also received a restraining order for an offence, against a woman, in 2021.”