Woman Starved, Tortured, and Beaten to Death by Trio in Disturbing Case
In a harrowing court hearing, it was revealed that a woman named Shakira Spencer, aged 35, suffered unimaginable torment at the hands of her alleged captors, Ashana Studholme, 38, her partner Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and Lisa Richardson, 44, ultimately leading to her tragic death.
Shakira Spencer, once a healthy size 16, was subjected to a horrifying campaign of abuse that left her emaciated. The court learned that she endured severe burns on her feet and relentless physical abuse before her life was brutally taken in September of the preceding year.
Her lifeless body was hidden away in the trunk of a borrowed red Honda Civic, driven to her flat in Hanwell, Greater London, by Pendlebury. Shockingly, it remained undiscovered until a neighbor noticed maggots creeping out from beneath her front door.
Allison Hunter, KC, the prosecutor, stated, “For reasons known only to them, these three defendants subjected Shakira Spencer to relentless torment, torture, starvation, burns, and ultimately a fatal beating.”
In the months preceding her death, Shakira found herself entirely under the control of the trio. She was cut off from friends and family, seemingly stripped of her free will. The defendants not only seized her self-respect and finances but also dominated her living space, treating her as if she were a slave.
Her days began in the early hours, compelled to clean their homes and run errands to the store. Shockingly, her sustenance appeared to be limited to sachets of ketchup, causing her weight to plummet. Disturbing images revealed a gaunt and skeletal Shakira, covered in bruises with hollowed, black eyes, illustrating the depths of her suffering.
The court heard that Shakira was likely murdered between September 11 and 12. On the evening of the 12th, Pendlebury and Studholme returned her battered body to her flat, placing ice around her head in a crude attempt to delay decomposition. At one point, her lifeless form was hidden beneath a children’s bunk bed, left to deteriorate.
To create a false impression, newspapers were strewn on the floor beside the bed, suggesting that Shakira had perished in her sleep. The pair then joined Richardson in a cleanup effort, captured on CCTV purchasing cleaning supplies. They returned to the flat four days later, where the state of decomposition was so advanced that they decided to leave her there to be discovered.
In a chilling twist, Studholme and Richardson used Shakira’s bank and ATM cards for various purchases, including food and transportation, but also to buy materials to eliminate evidence of their crimes. These materials were meant to erase traces of Shakira’s bodily fluids and DNA, which could reveal the extent and locations of her final beatings and concealment leading up to her demise.
Although the exact cause of death could not be determined, a post-mortem examination uncovered horrifying injuries sustained by Shakira before her passing. These injuries included crushing wounds where her left ear should have been, scalp lacerations, and damage to her left eye socket. Her feet exhibited signs of “epidermal degloving,” consistent with scalding, where the top layer of skin had been burned away.
Pendlebury reportedly confessed to his mother and uncle about his involvement in a specific attack. All three defendants, Pendlebury, Richardson, and Studholme, deny charges of murder and preventing an unlawful burial.
The trial is ongoing.