Three guilty of murdering woman who was ‘treated like a slave’ and fed only sachets of ketchup

Two women and a man have been found guilty of murdering a vulnerable woman who they “treated like a slave”.

Shakira Spencer died aged 35 after falling under the influence of her former neighbour Ashana Studholme, 38, Studholme’s lover Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend Lisa Richardson, 44.

The defendants, from west London, scalded her feet and fed her only ketchup from sachets, the Old Bailey was told.

Ms Spencer went from being a “beautiful, happy, healthy” size 16 to a “gaunt and skeletal” size six shortly before her death, jurors heard.

Last September, her badly decomposed body was found after neighbours saw maggots coming from her flat in Ealing, west London.

The three defendants had denied murder and preventing Ms Spencer’s lawful burial.

On Monday, a jury found all three guilty of both charges against them.

Pendlebury reacted by clapping his hands and walking out of the dock.

Previously, jurors heard how Ms Spencer had been subdued and dominated to the point that she was under the “complete control” of the defendants.

Over many months, she was isolated, prostituted and robbed of her self-respect and finances, the court was told.

She would be woken up in the early hours to clean the defendants’ houses and sent on errands to the shops.

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Prosecutor Allison Hunter KC said: “In early 2021 Shakira Spencer had been a healthy – even voluptuous – size 16 weighing some 74kgs (11st 9lb).

“By July 2022 Shakira Spencer was just skin and bone. Gaunt and skeletal, bruised from head to foot, with hollowed black eyes. She was barely a scrawny size six in images taken by the defendants just before she died.

“For whatever was their unfathomable, cruel, sadistic motive, these three defendants tormented, tortured, starved, burned and eventually battered Shakira Spencer to death.”

The mobile phones of the accused were seized, with hundreds of messages found referencing the abuse they had subjected Ms Spencer to.

Richardson and Studholme exchanged images mocking her, and videos of Ms Spencer being beaten up while the others laughed and jeered were also discovered.

The abuse reached a “frenzied climax” on around September 11 and 12 last year when Ms Spencer was beaten “to the brink of death” at Studholme’s home.

She was bundled into the boot of a borrowed Honda Civic and driven back to her flat, where she was locked in a hallway cupboard.

Ms Hunter said ice was packed around Ms Spencer in a bid to slow decomposition.

Newspapers were then carefully laid on the floor next to the bed as if Ms Spencer had been reading and died in her sleep.

An alternative plan to dispose of the body in a caravan was abandoned because the defendants could not risk moving her due to the extent of decomposition.

As part of the attempted cover-up, the defendants cleaned the victim’s blood, bodily fluids and DNA from their homes and removed all traces of their presence from Ms Spencer’s flat.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie said: “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.”

Following the verdicts, Judge Angela Rafferty KC adjourned sentencing to a later date.

Jurors had deliberated for nearly 18 hours to reach their verdicts and were excused by the judge from further jury service for life due to the “harrowing nature” of Ms Spencer’s case.