CCTV shows the moment sick killer Jordan McSweeney stalked other women through the streets before murdering Zara Aleena.
McSweeney, 29, attacked the 35-year-old law graduate just nine days after he was released from prison.
Zara was just minutes from her home in Ilford, East London in the early hours of June 26 when McSweeney dragged her into a driveway and carried out the ferocious assault.
McSweeney sexually assaulted, brutally kicked and stamped on the law graduate before making off with her mobile phone, keys and handbag and leaving her for dead, the prosecution said.
But prior to his horrific attack on Zara, new CCTV released by police shows his movements in the moments before as he preyed on other would-be victims.
The footage showed McSweeney in Ilford as he prowled the streets, following one woman along Cranbrook Road before, walking at a quick pace directly behind her before catching up with her on the pavement.
Later in the footage, he can be seen following another woman along Romford Road towards Manor Park, after being ejected from a bar.
McSweeney, jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years, is seen stumbling across a road as the woman approaches from the left before he proceeds to follow her.
The woman then enters a shop and chillingly, McSweeney follows and proceeds to walk around the shop before leaving and loitering around the corner.
He then continues to follow the woman dressed in black after she leaves the shop before she is seen running down a side street where she is still followed by the twisted killer as he quickens his pace.
Other CCTV obtained as part of the investigation into her murder shows that after Zara left a bar, she walked up the High Road and onto Cranbrook Road in the direction of Gants Hill Station.
As she walked along Cranbrook Road, she was being followed by Jordan McSweeney; a man not known to her, who had been recently released from prison and was working and staying at a funfair in nearby Valentines Park.
The footage showed McSweeney approaching Zara from behind, before dragging her into the front garden of a property in Cranbrook Road and attacking her.
Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC said: "On the night of June 25, 2022, he had left a pub in Ilford and had roamed the streets looking for a woman to attack and to sexually assault.
"He followed a number of different women and given what happened to Zara Aleena, there can be no doubt that they were lucky to have escaped unharmed.
"Tragically for Zara Aleena, of course, she was not so fortunate. The defendant saw, decided to follow her and was determined to assault her.
"He approached her from behind, grabbed her around the neck and dragged her into a driveway. Despite only being yards from a public street and from residential properties, the defendant attacked Zara Aleena with a savagery that is almost impossible to believe."
He said Ms Aleena stood no chance of survival when she was targeted by McSweeney in Cranbrooke Road, Ilford, east London.
"She did all she could to fight him off, but she had no idea he was behind her, and she must have been terrified as the bigger and stronger Jordan McSweeney dragged her into the darkness and out of sight from any potential rescuer," Mr Glasgow said.
Neighbouring residents witnessed some of the attack, but their view was partially obscured by a wall.
After the killing, other CCTV captured him returning to his caravan in Dagenham, where police recovered Zara's bloodstained clothes.
More bloodstains were found on a wall in Cranbrook Road with the defendant's fingerprints identified on them.
McSweeney had only recently been released from prison and had targeted more than one woman before he preyed on Zara, the court heard.
Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC had said McSweeney launched an "attack upon a lone female late at night making her way home, a woman who stood no chance".
At a previous hearing, the court was told McSweeney was a prolific offender and had been released from prison on licence on June 17 - just days before the murder.
