Catalogue of Errors by Probation Officers Led to Jordan McSweeney Being Free to Kill

Damning report comes a week after similar review in Damien Bendall case

An undated image of Jordan McSweeney, who has admitted murdering Zara Aleena on June 26, 2022. Metropolitan Police

A series of mistakes by probation officers left Jordan McSweeney free to sexually assault and kill Zara Aleena on a London street last year when he should have been recalled to prison.

McSweeney, 29, was locked up for at least 38 years last month after admitting to killing Aleena as she walked along a street in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of June 26, 2022.

A report (pdf) by the Inspectorate of Probation, published on Tuesday, said McSweeney should have been perceived as a high-risk offender when he was released from prison days before he murdered Aleena.

The Chief Inspector of Probation, Justin Russell, said: “Jordan McSweeney should have been considered a high risk of serious harm offender. If he had, more urgent action would have been taken to recall him to prison, after he missed his supervision appointments on release from custody.”

“The Probation Service failed to do so, and he was free to commit this most heinous crime on an innocent, young woman. Our independent review brings into sharp focus the consequences of these missed opportunities and reveals a Probation Service, in London, under the mounting pressure of heavy workloads and high vacancy rates,” Russell added.

Later, in an interview with Times Radio, Russell said “overworked” probation officers currently did not have the time to go over case files and assess the overall risk posed by an offender such as McSweeney.

Zara Aleena, who was murdered by Jordan McSweeney while walking towards Gants Hill station in London in the early hours of June 26, 2022. Metropolitan Police

Russell said: “There are over 500 serious further offences committed by people on probation each year. All of those are then investigated by the probation service itself, and it is vital that lessons are learned from that.”

McSweeney, a fairground worker, was released nine days before he killed Aleena.

After his conviction, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab ordered a review of how probation staff had supervised McSweeney, who had a history of violent offending.

McSweeney had 28 criminal convictions for 69 separate offences since the age of 13, including burglary, theft of a vehicle, criminal damage, assaulting police officers, and attacking members of the public while on bail.

He also had a history of violence towards ex-girlfriends and was handed a restraining order for an offence against a woman in 2021.

‘Incorrectly Assessed’ as Medium Risk

But when he was released he was “incorrectly assessed” as being only medium risk.

Crime, justice, and policing commentator Danny Shaw drew parallels with the case of Damien Bendall, who was given a whole life sentence in December for murdering his pregnant girlfriend, Terri Harris, 35, her children John and Lacey Bennett, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, who was 11.

Undated still from a police bodyworn camera of police arresting Damien Bendall outside the house where he killed his girlfriend and three children in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in September 2021. Derbyshire Police

A review into Bendall’s case was published on Jan. 17 (pdf) and found: “The Probation Service’s assessment and management of Bendall at every stage, from initial court report to his supervision in the community, was of an unacceptable standard and fell far below what was required.”

Shaw wrote on Twitter: “Both Bendall and McSweeney had long criminal records with convictions for violence. It should have been clear how dangerous they were—but probation focused too much on what their last offence was and not enough on the individual—their behaviour in the round, overall risks.”

The report into McSweeney said the Prison Service did not “communicate effectively about McSweeney’s risks,” leaving the Probation Service with an “incomplete picture of someone who was likely to reoffend.”

Russell said: “Following his release from prison and successive appointments being missed, the Probation Service failed to take prompt action to recall him to custody. Once that decision had been made, there were also delays in signing the necessary paperwork to initiate the recall. Had this been done sooner, opportunities for the police to locate and arrest McSweeney would have been maximised.”

McSweeney’s licence—the paperwork that permitted him to be at liberty—was revoked after he failed to meet probation officers but he was not recalled to prison until it was too late.

Russell made 10 recommendations for improvements and called for an urgent review into how the risk posed by those being released from prison was being assessed.

Minister Apologises ‘Unreservedly’

Prisons and probation minister Damian Hinds said, “This was a despicable crime and I apologise unreservedly to Zara Aleena’s family for the unacceptable failings in this case.”

Hinds said: “We are taking immediate steps to address the serious issues raised by the Jordan McSweeney and Damien Bendall cases. This includes mandatory training to improve risk assessments, implementing new processes to guarantee the swift recall of offenders and we have taken disciplinary action where appropriate.”

Hinds said the government invested £155 million a year into the Probation Service and hoped to “ensure these sorts of tragedies can never happen again.”

Aleena’s aunt, Farah Naz, told the BBC: “Zara’s life was taken and probation have blood on their hands.“ Naz added: ”Some people need to be accountable here. If you commission a report … you should be acting on it. If I don’t do my job, I don’t deserve my job.”

PA Media contributed to this report.