Haunting last images of enslaved mother who was tortured, abused and starved to death: Shakira Spencer is seen looking frail on CCTV just days before she died – as sadistic trio are sentenced to life in prison

These are the haunting last images of an enslaved mother who was tortured, abused and starved to death, as the sadistic trio were sentenced to life in prison.

Shakira Spencer, 35, was found dead in her flat in Hanwell, west London, after a neighbour raised the alarm when they saw maggots crawling from under her front door on September 25, 2022. 

CCTV recovered by the police showed the last time the mother was seen in public, slowly crossing a road around the time of the assault which killed her.

In the months leading to her murder, the three killers – Ashana Studholme, boyfriend Shaun Pendlebury and friend Lisa Richardson – fed her only sachets of ketchup and turned her from a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16 to a ‘skeletal’ size six.

A disturbing image shows Ms Spencer looking gaunt and almost unrecognisable compared to photos of her in happier times.

The group who befriended a ‘kind and caring’ mother before she was battered to death in ‘the most savage and inhumane way imaginable’ were sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

Ms Spencer was forced to sleep under newspapers in the hallway at Studholme’s home and perceived by the defendants as ‘less than human’. 

The killers treated her as a slave, tortured her with a makeshift blowtorch and boiling water poured on her from a kettle, whipped her with belts and hit her with fists and a glass bottle. They also poured boiling water on her feet.

The abuse reached a ‘frenzied climax’ on around September 11 and 12 last year when the victim was beaten ‘to the brink of death’ at Studholme’s home in what the judge described as ‘an orgy of violence’. 

CCTV dated September 10 showed Ms Spencer painstakingly crossing a road.

When the killers tired of their sadism, they bundled Ms Spencer into the boot of a car and drove her back to her flat, where she was locked in a cupboard while they waited for her to die.

They then moved her to a bunk bed where the body was left rotting for two weeks. 

Other footage showed Studholme buying cleaning products to try and clean up the crime scene – using her own credit card.

Messages were also found on the defendants’ phones, including videos of the enslaved mother being beaten up as others laughed. 

Studholme, Pendlebury and Richardson were jailed at the Old Bailey for life with a minimum term of 34 years for her murder.

The court heard a devastating statement from Shakira’s mother who said the defendants tortured and murdered her daughter ‘like a pack of animals’. 

Judge Angela Rafferty KC said: ‘Images of Shakira before she fell under your influence show her full of life, healthy and smiling – she is unrecognisable at the end, emaciated and broken.

‘All who watched it will be slow to forget the CCTV footage of her trying to walk on scalded feet in the middle of the night.

‘You, Pendlebury, lived in her flat whilst she slept in a bike shed; you, Studholme, started as a friend but ended as the worst kind of enemy a person could have; you, Richardson, showed Shakira nothing but exceptional contempt and aggression.

‘Leading up to her murder she was routinely and continually humiliated, degraded and dehumanised. She was loveable, soft and trusting, easy to take advantage of, and she needed a lot of help and support.

‘Her friend said that a calculated person would easily be able to exploit Shakira – she was no match for the three of you.’

In a impact statement read to the court, Ms Spencer’s son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he has suffered with daily nightmares and anxiety over what happened to his mother and cannot get the horrible image of her ‘looking skinny and unwell out of my head’.

‘Why were they (the defendants) so heartless? What could cause them to torture another human? I hope that every day they feel bad for the choices they have made.

‘I cannot believe people she thought were her friends would ever do this to her.

‘These people are cruel and evil, they do not deserve to live a normal happy life again.

‘To me, my mum was the best – she was not perfect but she made me feel happy, safe and loved, I miss her every day and wish for a chance to see and speak with her again.

‘I never got to say goodbye to her, or to tell her that I loved her – these people let her die alone with her feeling she was unloved, as they had taken everybody away from her.’ 

In a witness statement read to the Old Bailey, Shakira’s mother Merjia Spencer said her daughter was loved by the whole family and was a caring and sweet natured person.

‘Shakira loved kids – she worked in a nursery when she first left school and I always joked that would put her off having her own but it didn’t, she was really happy when she became a mum.

‘She was quiet and shy but would come out of her shell a bit when she was surrounded by loved ones – she deeply cared about people and loved having friends to spend time with.

‘She always wanted to be liked, which made her keen to please people, and thoughtful – however, this trait also made her vulnerable.

‘The defendants have, over many months, taken away everything that Shakira loved.

‘She was isolated from her family and friends, her health deteriorated and she was almost unrecognisable. The defendants were not content with the complete destruction of Shakira’s life: when she was at her lowest the defendants have tortured and murdered her like a pack of animals’.

Ice was said to be packed around Ms Spencer in a primitive bid to slow decomposition.

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

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

As part of the 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. 

Studholme, Pendlebury, and Richardson were arrested on suspicion of Ms Spencer’s murder before a three month trial into her death.

All three denied but were convicted of murder and preventing a lawful burial by an Old Bailey jury on Monday, December 11.

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, from Scotland Yard, said Ms Spencer was murdered in ‘the most savage and inhumane way imaginable’.

He 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.’

Mr Howie added: ‘Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives were, there is no acceptable explanation for what Shakira was put through.

‘This was a complex and challenging investigation. A meticulous timeline was created to pull together the different strands of evidence, paralleled against each other, in order to prove the defendants’ campaign of controlling behaviour and violence.

‘This included the retrieval and viewing of thousands of hours of CCTV, extensive forensic examinations, pathology, witness accounts, searching of houses and vehicles and reviewing the defendants’ phones.

‘That examination revealed what Shakira had been subjected to, with footage, messages and voice notes recorded by the defendants themselves that would prove key.’

Leader of the trio Studholme made friends with the mother-of-two before taking over her life and finances. 

Studholme beat Ms Spencer around the head with a bottle in the bedroom leaving blood splattered on the walls.

She texted Richardson and said ‘I’ve buss her head in. I need you here, I will go to jail.’

Pendlebury then chased her with a ‘blowtorch’ made of a lighter and aerosol before the killers beat her in the kitchen and poured boiling water on her feet.

On the evening of 12 September the victim was bundled into the boot of a red Honda Civic motor vehicle borrowed by Pendlebury from his aunt.

The couple bought kebabs and and were captured laughing and joking as they returned to Studholme’s home.

They then began an intensive clean-up operation at Studholme’s house, buying materials with money from Ms Spencer’s bank accounts.

By the time Ms Spencer was killed, Studholme was ‘in receipt of all of her benefits and had control of all of her finances’.

Studholme was caught with Ms Spencer’s personal documentation including bank accounts, disability allowance applications and Nationwide Trust fund documents.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter, KC, said earlier: ‘Over the months leading up to her murder the defendants, primarily Studholme and Richardson subdued and dominated Shakira so totally that she was under all of their complete control.

‘She was isolated from everyone she had previously known, her freewill seemingly sapped and stolen from her.

‘They stole her self-respect, her finances, took over her flat, treated her like a slave, ordering her wake up in the early hours of the morning to clean their houses, sending her to the shops to do their errands, feeding her only on sachets of ketchup and then in circumstances of unbelievable depravity, boasted about and on occasion photographed and filmed what they did and were intending to do to her.

‘This was the slow erosion of a human being over many months culminating in what the Crown says was a sustained, frenzied and almost feral attack over several days – scalding her, blowtorching her, hitting her head, whipping her with belts and hitting with fists and a glass bottle.

‘When that didn’t kill her outright she was bundled into a boot, taken to her own flat and locked in a cupboard and denied even food or water until she died.

‘She was then left to rot in a bed as they attempted to mop up anything showing their involvement.

‘Shakira Spencer was clearly perceived by these defendants as a species less than human.’

Jurors had deliberated for nearly 18 hours to reach verdicts and were excused by the judge from jury service for life due to the ‘harrowing nature’ of the case. 

The prosecutor previously told the court: ‘They stole her home…took over her finances, controlled her whereabouts, destroyed her clothes, cut off most of her hair and they beat her.

‘They scorched her, burnt her, beat her with a massager, left her to urinate herself and then they bundled her into the boot of a car, shoved her battered and bruised into a cupboard and left her to die.

‘They are guilty of murder, and it really is murder of the most foul.

‘They are guilty of denying a decent burial and I hope you do not lose one second of sleep if you do find them so.’

Pendlebury, of Ealing, Richardson, of Ealing, and Studholme, of Harrow, all denied but were convicted of murder and preventing a lawful burial. 

Following the sentencing Senior Crown Prosecutor Devi Kharran said: ‘Evidence presented during the trial proved that Pendlebury, Studholme and Richardson exercised twisted and sadistic control of Shakira Spencer over an extended period.

‘They spun a web of lies in every effort to hide their actions.

‘The CPS built a strong case against them using video footage filmed by the defendants themselves, mobile phone evidence, forensic analysis, and a confession from Shaun Pendlebury himself to prove beyond doubt that they were responsible for her death.

‘The level of suffering that Shakira endured is simply unimaginable.

‘Our thoughts remain with all of Shakira’s family and friends. I hope this conviction brings them some sense of justice.’