Shakira Spencer, the 35-year-old mother, transformed from a ‘gaunt and skeletal’ size 6 to a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16 in less than eighteen months. Three people brutally tortured and starved her to death.
Shakira was brutally beaten by her former neighbour, Ashana Studholme, 38, along with the her lover, Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend, Lisa Richardson, 44. These three sadistic individuals led her to her ultimate demise in her flat in Ealing, west London.
The mother lost her life in a cupboard. The three murderers were found guilty in December 2023. However, they received life imprisonment for the same.
A “Complex Web of Relationships”
Metropolitan Police alleged that Shakira Spencer knew her murderers for some time. The police described their bond as a ‘complex web of relationships.’ The 35-year-old was dominated and subdued primarily by Richardson and Studholme. Thus, Spencer fell completely under their control.
Shakira Spencer was prostituted and isolated. The three killers took her money. Moreover, they tortured her by waking her up early in the morning and making her do house chores. Thus, Shakira was subjected to degradation, humiliation, enslavement, and beatings for months together. The court said that her feet were scalded and she was only fed sachets of ketchup.
Allison Hunter KC, the Prosecutor, said, seeing the photographs of Shakira Spencer before her death, that the 35-year-old woman was size 16 in 2021. However, by July 2022, she had dropped to size six.
Ms Spencer’s Last Moments
Around September 11 and 12, 2022, the 35-year-old was on the brink of death. Thus, the abuse reached a new climax. Instead of taking Ms. Spencer to the hospital, Studholme and Pendlebury drove her home, putting her in the boot of the car. The duo tied her inside the cupboard where she died.
The court also heard that her body was later left to rot at the bottom of a children’s bunk bed. As her entire body was discovered in poor condition, the exact cause of her demise couldn’t be found.
The post-mortem examination discovered scalding wounds on her feet, cuts on her scalp, and crushing injuries in her ears.
How Were the Culprits of Shakira Spencer’s Murder Found?
The trio removed all possible evidence of their presence from the victim’s flat. According to the Mirror, When other neighbors witnessed maggots coming from a 35-year-old’s flat about two weeks after her demise, decomposed body was discovered.
Later the same day, a relative of Pendlebury called the cops and confessed about the trio involved in the killing of the woman. Thus, the three murderers were soon taken into custody. They were found guilty and received life imprisonment with a minimum term of 34 years.”
