Three people have been found guilty of murdering a vulnerable woman who was tortured, starved and “treated like a slave” over many months, reducing her to a “gaunt and skeletal” appearance.
Shakira Spencer died after falling under the influence of her former neighbour Ashana Studholme, 38, her partner Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend Lisa Richardson, 44.
The defendants, from west London, scalded her feet and fed her only ketchup from sachets, the Old Bailey was told.
Over many months, she was isolated, prostituted and robbed of her self-respect and finances, it was claimed.
Spencer would be woken up in the early hours to clean the defendants’ houses and sent on errands to the shops.
The 35-year-old went from being a “beautiful, happy, healthy” size 16 to a “gaunt and skeletal” size six shortly before her death, jurors heard.
Last September, her badly decomposed body was found after neighbours saw maggots coming from her flat in Ealing, west London.
The three defendants had denied murder and preventing Spencer’s lawful burial.
On Monday, a jury found all three defendants guilty of both charges against them. Pendlebury reacted by clapping his hands and walking out of the dock.
Previously, jurors heard how Spencer had been subdued and dominated mainly by Studholme and Richardson, to the point where she was under all of their “complete control”.
Prosecutor Allison Hunter KC said: “In early 2021 Shakira Spencer had been a healthy – even voluptuous – size 16, weighing some 74kgs (11st 9lb).
“By July 2022 Shakira Spencer was just skin and bone. Gaunt and skeletal, bruised from head to foot, with hollowed black eyes. She was barely a scrawny size six in images taken by the defendants just before she died.
“For whatever was their unfathomable, cruel, sadistic motive, these three defendants tormented, tortured, starved, burned and eventually battered Shakira Spencer to death.”
The abuse reached a “frenzied climax” on around 11 or 12 September last year when Spencer was beaten “to the brink of death” at Studholme’s home, the jury was told.
She was bundled into the boot of Pendlebury’s borrowed Honda Civic car and driven back to her flat, where she was locked in a hallway cupboard, it was claimed.
Hunter said ice was packed around Spencer in a primitive bid to slow decomposition.
Newspapers were carefully laid on the floor next to the bed as if Spencer had been reading and died in her sleep, jurors heard.
Hunter said: “It was only when neighbours saw maggots crawling out from under her door that the police were called to Shakira’s address on Sunday 25 September 2022 and the painstaking investigation which ensued revealed in detail what they had done.”
Jurors heard Studholme had three previous convictions for assaulting women in Edinburgh and London, as well as multiple shoplifting offences.
She also received a caution for the neglect of a child who fell from a roof while playing in a paddling pool unattended.
Pendlebury had previous convictions for drugs offences, handling stolen goods and assaulting two police officers, while Richardson had one conviction for cultivating cannabis.
After the guilty verdicts, Judge Angela Rafferty KC adjourned sentencing to a later date.
Devi Kharran, senior Crown prosecutor, said: “Evidence presented during the trial proved that Pendlebury, Studholme and Richardson exercised twisted and sadistic control of Shakira Spencer over an extended period. They spun a web of lies in every effort to hide their actions.
“The level of suffering that Shakira endured is simply unimaginable. Our thoughts remain with all of Shakira’s family and friends. I hope this conviction brings them some sense of justice.”
