Friends and family of Zara Aleena, a law graduate murdered by a sexual predator on her way home, will lead a vigil on Sunday to ‘protest against a system that failed her’.
Zara, 35, was just minutes from her front door when she was attacked by Jordan McSweeney, who had stalked her through the streets of Ilford, east London, on June 26, 2022.
Mourners gathering on Sunday will retrace Zara’s final steps and pause for a moment of reflection at the spot where she was killed.
Her aunt Farah Naz said: ‘The anniversary is heavy, of course — but the truth is, every day since Zara was taken from us has been hard.
‘Every day, it’s hard to comprehend.
‘We come together on this day not only to honour Zara’s life, but also in protest.
‘Protest against a system that failed her. Protest against a culture that excuses violence.
‘What happened to Zara is not acceptable. It is not inevitable. It is not human.
‘We must not look the other way.
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‘This day gives us space to speak her name, to honour her and to keep her at the heart of the change that’s needed.’
Zara’s family says her killing was ‘preventable’, with a subsequent investigation helping to expose failings in institutions such as the probation service and the police.
McSweeney had been released from prison nine days earlier.
The jury at Zara’s inquest last year found Zara’s death was contributed to by ‘the failure of multiple state agencies to act in accordance to policies and procedures’
Those included failures ‘to share intelligence, accurately assess risk of serious harm, (and) act and plan in response to the risk in a sufficient, timely and coordinated way’.
Evidence to the inquest prompted the coroner Nadia Persaud to issue a prevention of future deaths report warning there is a risk similar killings could occur unless action is taken.
She instructed the Probation Service and Metropolitan Police to improve their services.
Low staffing levels, poor understanding around risk assessment and a ‘lack of professional curiosity’ within the Probation Service were all listed as matters of concern, as was a lack of ‘rigour, detail and independence’ of a Met investigation into the case, Ms Persaud concluded.
Ms Naz said: ‘Zara’s death must mean something — it must lead to something better – that’s what keeps us going.’
McSweeney was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 years at the Old Bailey in December 2022 after admitting sexually assaulting and murdering Ms Aleena.
In November 2023, he won a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the minimum term of his life sentence to 33 years.
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