Zara Aleena murder: Jordan McSweeney treated as ‘medium risk’ following mistakes by probation staff

A man who murdered a woman last year had been wrongly assessed as “medium risk” following mistakes that were made by probation staff, a watchdog report has found. Jordan McSweeney, 26, attacked law graduate Zara Aleena in June 2022, nine days after he was released from jail.

According to a damning report by Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell released by the BBC that looks into the handling of McSweeney, it found that he was not treated as a high risk-offender when he should have been.

In December, McSweeney was sentenced to a minimum term of 38 years by a judge at the Old Bailey for the brutal attack carried out on 35-year-old Aleena. During the trial, he had admitted savagely kicking and stamping on the trainee solicitor, who was walking home in Ilford in east London when she was assaulted.