by Two women and a man have been found guilty of murdering a vulnerable woman who was tortured, starved and executed.
Shakira Spencer died after falling under the influence of her former neighbor Ashana Studholme, 38, her lover Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend Lisa Richardson, 44.
“The defendants, from west London, treated her like a slave”, scalped her legs and gave her only ketchup from sachets, the Old Bailey was told.
The 35-year-old went from being a “beautiful, happy, healthy” size 16 to an “aunty and skeletal” size six shortly before her death, jurors heard.
Last September, her badly decomposed body was discovered after neighbors saw maggots coming from her flat in Ealing, west London.
All three defendants denied murder and prevented Miss Spencer from being legally buried.
On Monday, a jury found the three defendants guilty of both charges against them and Pendlebury responded by clapping and walking out of the dock.
Previously, jurors heard how Studholme and Richardson came to dominate her to the point where she was under his “total control”.
Over several months, she was isolated, prostituted and robbed of her self-esteem and finances, it was said.
She would be woken in the early hours to clean the defendants’ homes and sent on errands to the shops.
Prosecutor Allison Hunter KC said: “In early 2021 Shakira Spencer was a healthy size 16 – even bulky – weighing 74kg (11st 9lb).
“By July 2022 Shakira Spencer was nothing more than skin and bones. Gaunt and skeletal, bruised from head to foot, with sunken black eyes. She was barely a scrawny figure of six in images taken by the defendants just before she died.
“Whatever their incomprehensible, cruel, sadistic motive, these three defendants tortured, tortured, starved, burned and ultimately executed Shakira Spencer.”
The abuse reached a “frenzied peak” around September 11 and 12 last year when Ms Spencer was beaten “to death” at the Studholme home, the jury was told.
She was said to have been bundled into the boot of Pendlebury’s borrowed Honda Civic and driven back to her flat, where she was locked in a hall cupboard.
Ms Hunter said ice had been packed around Ms Spencer in a primitive attempt 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.
Another plan to dispose of the body in a caravan was scrapped because the defenders could not move it 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 his presence from Ms. Spencer’s apartment.
Mr Hunter said: “It was only when neighbors saw worms crawling out of her door that the police were called to Shakira’s address on Sunday 25 September 2022 and the intense investigation that followed revealed in detail the extent they had done.”
A pathologist was unable to identify exactly how Miss Spencer died due to the poor condition of her body.
A post-mortem examination found bruised injuries to her ear, cuts to her scalp and scale wounds to her legs, jurors were told.
Giving evidence, Pendlebury said he found Ms Spencer in a “bad way” inside a cupboard and gave her soup.
Pendlebury said he only found out Ms Spencer had died when Studholme called him.
Richardson blamed Pendlebury for what happened and Studholme refused to give evidence in her defence.
A lawyer for Studholme cited “evidential nails” that “tortured” her co-accused’s two cases.
Jurors heard that Studholme had three previous convictions for assaulting women in Edinburgh and London as well as multiple shoplifting offences.
She also received a warning for the negligence of a child who fell from a flat roof while playing in an unattended paddling pool.
Pendlebury has previous convictions for drug offences, handling stolen goods and assaulting two police officers while Richardson has one conviction for possession of cannabis.
Following the guilty verdict, Judge Angela Rafferty KC adjourned sentencing until a later date.
Jurors had deliberated for almost 18 hours to reach a verdict and the judge excused himself from jury service for life because of the “serious nature” of the case.
Devi Kharran, senior Crown prosecutor, said: “Evidence presented during the trial established that Pendlebury, Studholme and Richardson exercised arbitrary and sadistic control over Shakira Spencer over a long period. They spin a web of lies in every attempt to hide their actions.
“The SPC 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 can only be imagined. Our thoughts remain with all of Shakira’s family and friends. I hope this conviction will give them a sense of justice.”
Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, of Scotland Yard, said Ms Spencer’s murder was carried out in “the most elaborate and inhuman way imaginable”.
He said: “Shakira was a beautiful, happy mother who was kind and trusting.
“Shakira could be vulnerable and these defendants took advantage of that by controlling and isolating her from everyone she knew to control and subjugate her in the most dehumanizing and degrading way.”
The defendants lied and gave “unbelievable accounts” in an attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility, he said.
Mr Howie said: “Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives, there is no acceptable explanation for what happened to Shakira.
“This was a complex and challenging investigation. A meticulous timeline was created to pull together the various strands of evidence, paralleling each other, to create the defendants’ campaign to control behavior and violence.
“This includes the retrieval and review of thousands of hours of CCTV, extensive forensic examinations, pathology, witness accounts, house and vehicle searches and a review of the defendants’ phones.
“That examination showed what was about Shakira, with footage, messages and voice notes recorded by the defendants themselves that would be crucial.”
