Two women and a man have been found guilty of the murder of a vulnerable woman who was tortured, starved and beaten to death.
Shakira Spencer died after falling under the influence of her former neighbor Ashana Studholme, 38, her lover Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend Lisa Richardson, 44.
The defendants, from west London, “treated her like a slave”, burned her feet and only gave her ketchup in sachets, the Old Bailey was told.
The 35-year-old went from a “beautiful, happy, healthy” size 16 to a “thin and skeletal” size six shortly before her death, jurors heard.
Last September, her badly decomposed body was found after neighbors saw maggots coming out of her flat in Ealing, west London.
The three defendants had denied murder and prevented Mrs Spencer’s legal burial.
On Monday, a jury found all three defendants guilty of both charges against them and Pendlebury responded by clapping his hands and walking out of the dock.
Earlier, jurors heard how Ms Spencer had been subjugated and dominated, mainly by Studholme and Richardson, to the point where she was under their ‘complete control’.
For many months she was isolated, prostituted and deprived of her self-respect and finances, it was claimed.
She would be woken up in the early hours to clean the defendants’ homes and send groceries to the shops.
Prosecutor Allison Hunter KC said: “In early 2021, Shakira Spencer was a healthy – even voluptuous – size 16 weighing approximately 74kg (11st 9lb).
“By July 2022, Shakira Spencer was only skin and bones. Gaunt and skeletal, bruised from head to toe, with gouged black eyes. In the photos the defendants took just before her death, she was barely thin, a size six.
“Whatever their unfathomable, cruel, sadistic motive, these three defendants tormented, tortured, starved, burned, and ultimately beat to death Shakira Spencer.”
The abuse reached a “frenzied climax” around September 11 and 12 last year when Mrs Spencer was beaten “to the brink of death” at the Studholme 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 hall cupboard, it was claimed.
Mrs Hunter said ice had been packed around Mrs Spencer in a primitive attempt to slow decomposition.
Newspapers were carefully placed on the floor next to the bed as if Mrs Spencer had been reading and died in her sleep, jurors heard.
An alternative plan to dump the body in a caravan was abandoned because the defendants could not risk moving her due to her state of decomposition, it was suggested.
As part of the cover-up, the defendants removed the victim’s blood, bodily fluids and DNA from their homes and removed all traces of their presence from Ms Spencer’s flat.
Ms Hunter said: “It was only when neighbors saw maggots crawling out from under her door that police were called to Shakira’s address on Sunday, September 25, 2022 and the painstaking investigation that followed revealed in detail what they had done.”
A pathologist was unable to identify exactly how Mrs Spencer died due to the poor condition of her body.
A post-mortem examination found crushing injuries to her ear, lacerations to her scalp and burning wounds to her feet, jurors were told.
Pendlebury said he found Mrs Spencer in a cupboard in a “bad way” and gave her soup.
Pendlebury said he only found out Mrs Spencer had died when Studholme called him.
Richardson blamed Pendlebury for what happened and Studholme refused to testify in his defense.
An attorney for Studholme pointed to “nails of evidence” that “crucified” both of her co-defendant’s cases.
Jurors heard that Studholme had three previous convictions for assaulting women in Edinburgh and London, as well as several shoplifting incidents.
She was also cautioned for neglect of a child who fell from a flat roof while playing unsupervised in a paddling pool.
Pendlebury had previous convictions for drug offences, handling stolen goods and assaulting two police officers, while Richardson had one conviction for growing cannabis.
Following the guilty verdicts, Judge Angela Rafferty KC adjourned sentencing to a later date.
Jurors deliberated for nearly 18 hours to reach a verdict and were exempted from jury duty for life by the judge due to the “distressing nature” of the case.
Devi Kharran, chief prosecutor for the Crown, said: “Evidence presented at the trial proved that Pendlebury, Studholme and Richardson exercised distorted and sadistic control over Shakira Spencer over an extended period of time. They spun a web of lies in their attempts to conceal their actions.
“The CPS have built a strong case against them using video footage filmed by the defendants themselves, mobile phone evidence, forensic analysis and a confession from Shaun Pendlebury himself to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were responsible for her death.
“The level of suffering Shakira has had to endure is simply unimaginable. Our thoughts remain with all of Shakira’s family and friends. I hope this conviction brings them a sense of justice.”
Senior Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie of Scotland Yard said Ms Spencer was murdered in “the most cruel and inhumane way imaginable”.
He said: “Shakira was a beautiful, happy mother who was kind and had a trusting nature.
“Shakira could have been vulnerable and these defendants took advantage of that by controlling and isolating her from everyone she knew, controlling and enslaving her in the most dehumanizing and degrading way.”
The defendants lied and gave “implausible explanations” in an attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility, he said.
Mr Howie said: “Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives, there is no acceptable explanation for what was done to Shakira.
“This was a complex and challenging investigation. A meticulous timeline was established to piece together the various pieces of evidence, parallel to each other, to prove the defendants’ campaign to control behavior and violence.
“This included the retrieval and review of thousands of hours of CCTV, extensive forensic examination, pathology, witness statements, searches of homes and vehicles and going through the defendants’ phones.
“That investigation revealed what Shakira had been subjected to, with images, messages and voice recordings recorded by the defendants themselves that would prove to be crucial.”