Shakira Spencer, 35, died following a ‘sadistic’ campaign of abuse (Picture: PA/Met Police)
Two women and a man have been sentenced to life in prison for inflicting ‘an orgy violence’ on Shakira Spencer before murdering her.
Shakira Spencer, 35, died following a ‘sadistic’ campaign of abuse by her one-time boyfriend, Shaun Pendlebury, 26, their friend Lisa Richardson, 44, and her former neighbour Ashana Studholme, 38.
The trio, under the leadership of Studholme, treated Shakira ‘like a slave’, forcing her to survive on sachets of ketchup while she cleaned their houses and ran errands for them.
During sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Angela Rafferty KC said: ‘None of you took any responsibility and you continue to blame each other to this day – you have no remorse.
‘This murder is marked by extreme, calculated and brutal violence and torture.
The judge said it was an ‘orgy of violence’, adding: ‘I am of no doubt that you all intended to kill Shakira.
‘This was a sadistic campaign in which you all took pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering on a vulnerable woman.’
Over several months she went from a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16 to a ‘gaunt and skeletal’ size six shortly before her death in September 2022.
The abuse reached a ‘frenzied climax’ when Shakira was beaten ‘to the brink of death’ at Studholme’s home, the jury was told.
She was bundled in the boot of a car, driven back to her flat and locked in a cupboard.
Her body was discovered around two weeks later after neighbours noticed maggots crawling out of her flat in Ealing, west London, the Old Bailey heard.
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