Zara Aleena, a bright, vibrant law graduate, was walking home from a night out on 26 June when she was brutally murdered in a random, misogynistic and sexually motivated attack. Ever since that night, her friends and family have been tormented by the what-ifs – the painful sense that Aleena’s death was preventable.
Over the months I spent speaking with those who loved her for a recent story, this came up again and again. Today, a report by the inspectorate of probation confirms what her loved ones suspected: Jordan McSweeney, the man who murdered Aleena, would not have been free to attack her that night had it not been for a series of devastating state failings.
