EXCLUSIVE ‘Natural beauty’: Chilling moment one of murdered Shakira Spencer’s killers befriends her before she and her two accomplices starve her from size 16 to six and torture her to death

• 35-year-old found dead at home in Hanwell, west London, in September 2022
• Trio of sadistic killers found guilty of murder on Monday, December 11
• Ashana Studholme, 38, befriended the mother-of-two before torturing her 

This is the chilling moment one of Shakira Spencer’s killers befriended the 35-year-old before she was tortured, starved and battered to death.

Ms Spencer, 35, was found dead by police at her home in Hanwell, west London, after a neighbour spotted maggots crawling from under her front door on September 25, 2022.

The trio of sadistic killers who kept Ms Spencer alive with sachets of ketchup and turned her from a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16 to a ‘gaunt and skeletal’ size six shortly before her death, were found guilty of murder on Monday, December 11. 

One of the murderers, Ashana Studholme, 38, made friends with the mother-of-two and took over her life and finances, while fellow killer and boyfriend Shaun Pendlebury moved into her flat. 

Back in 2017, the evidence of this befriending can be seen on Facebook, when Ms Studholme’s account commented on a photo of Ms Spencer, saying ‘natural beauty’. Earlier in that same year, Ms Spencer’s murderer left another unsettling comment on a selfie of the victim, writing ‘pretty xx’.

Ms Spencer, 35, was found dead by police at her home in Hanwell, west London, after a neighbour spotted maggots crawling from under her front door on September 25, 2022

One of the murderers, Ashana Studholme, 38, made friends with the mother-of-two and took over her life and finances

Ms Spencer had gone from being a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16 to a ‘gaunt and skeletal’ size six shortly before her death, jurors heard

Ms Studholme was found guilty of murder

Ms Studholme, her boyfriend Mr Pendlebury, 26, and friend Lisa Richardson, 44, were arrested on suspicion of Ms Spencer’s murder before a three month trial into her death. All three denied but were convicted of murder and preventing a lawful burial by an Old Bailey dury. 

A disturbing image shows Ms Spencer looking gaunt and almost unrecognisable compared to photos of the mother during happier times – when she was described as a voluptuous size 16 weighing just under 12 stone. 

The abuse reached a ‘frenzied climax’ on around September 11 and 12 last year when Ms Spencer was beaten ‘to the brink of death’ at Ms 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.

Ms Hunter said ice was packed around Ms Spencer in a primitive bid to slow decomposition.

Newspapers were carefully laid on the floor next to the bed as if Ms Spencer had been reading and died in her sleep, jurors heard.

An alternative plan to dispose of the body in a caravan was abandoned because the defendants could not risk moving her due to the state of decomposition, it was suggested.

As part of the cover-up, the defendants cleaned the victim’s blood, bodily fluids and DNA from their homes and removed all traces of their presence from Ms Spencer’s flat. 

Ashana Studholme is seen being arrested at her home for the murder of Ms Spencer 

Footage shows Lisa Richardson being arrested on suspicion of Ms Spencer’s murder 

Shaun Pendlebury is seen being arrested on suspicion of Ms Spencer’s murder 

A harrowing photograph shows the gaunt face of starved mother-of-two Shakira Spencer just days before she was battered to death by her killers

Shaun Pendlebury’s mugshot for the Shakira Spencer trial

Lisa Richardson’s mugshot after she was found guilty of murder 

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, from Scotland Yard, said Ms Spencer was murdered in ‘the most savage and inhumane way imaginable’.

He said: ‘Shakira was a beautiful, happy mother who was kind and had a trusting nature.

‘Shakira could be vulnerable and these defendants took advantage of that by controlling and isolating her from everyone she knew in order to control and enslave her in the most dehumanising and degrading way.’

Mr Howie added: ‘Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives were, there is no acceptable explanation for what Shakira was put through.

‘This was a complex and challenging investigation. A meticulous timeline was created to pull together the different strands of evidence, paralleled against each other, in order to prove the defendants’ campaign of controlling behaviour and violence.

‘This included the retrieval and viewing of thousands of hours of CCTV, extensive forensic examinations, pathology, witness accounts, searching of houses and vehicles and reviewing the defendants’ phones.

‘That examination revealed what Shakira had been subjected to, with footage, messages and voice notes recorded by the defendants themselves that would prove key.’

Ms Spencer was forced to sleep under newspapers in the hallway at Studholme’s home.

The killers treated her as her slave and enjoyed torturing her with a makeshift blowtorch and boiling water poured on her from a kettle.

When they had tired of their sadism, they bundled her into the boot of a car and drove her back to her flat at Lambert House, Holbeck Row, where Ms Spencer was locked in a cupboard while they waited for her to die.

They then moved her to a bunk bed where the body was left rotting for two weeks.

Footage shows Ms Spencer walking on Greenhill Road on September 10, 2022, days before her death 

Ms Spencer was found dead in her flat in Hanwell, west London, after a neighbour raised the alarm

Ms Spencer had gone from being a ‘beautiful, happy, healthy’ size 16 to a ‘gaunt and skeletal’ size six shortly before her death, jurors heard

Prosecutor Allison Hunter, KC, said earlier: ‘Over the months leading up to her murder the defendants, primarily Studholme and Richardson subdued and dominated Shakira so totally that she was under all of their complete control.

‘She was isolated from everyone she had previously known, her freewill seemingly sapped and stolen from her.

‘They stole her self-respect, her finances, took over her flat, treated her like a slave, ordering her wake up in the early hours of the morning to clean their houses, sending her to the shops to do their errands, feeding her only on sachets of ketchup and then in circumstances of unbelievable depravity, boasted about and on occasion photographed and filmed what they did and were intending to do to her.

‘This was the slow erosion of a human being over many months culminating in what the Crown says was a sustained, frenzied and almost feral attack over several days – scalding her, blowtorching her, hitting her head, whipping her with belts and hitting with fists and a glass bottle.

‘When that didn’t kill her outright she was bundled into a boot, taken to her own flat and locked in a cupboard and denied even food or water until she died.

‘She was then left to rot in a bed as they attempted to mop up anything showing their involvement.

‘Shakira Spencer was clearly perceived by these defendants as a species less than human.’

Jurors had deliberated for nearly 18 hours to reach verdicts and were excused by the judge from jury service for life due to the ‘harrowing nature’ of the case.

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 CPS 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 doubt that they were responsible for her death.

‘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.’

Ashana Studholme, 38, her boyfriend Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and friend Lisa Richardson, 44, all denied but were convicted of murder and preventing a lawful burial by an Old Bailey jury today after a three month trial (pictured: Hanwell)

Shaun Pendlebury, 26, Ashana Studholme, 38, and friend Lisa Richardson, 44, all denied but were convicted of murder

Lisa Richardson denied but was convicted of of the murder of Ms Spencer

Ms Studholme beat Ms Spencer around the head with a bottle in the bedroom leaving blood splattered on the walls.

She texted Richardson and said ‘I’ve buss her head in. I need you here, I will go to jail.’

Pendlebury then chased her with a ‘blowtorch’ made of a lighter and aerosol before the killers beat her in the kitchen and poured boiling water on her feet.

In the evening of 12 September the victim was bundled into the boot of a red Honda Civic motor vehicle borrowed by Pendlebury from his aunt.

The couple bought kebabs and and were captured laughing joking as they returned to Studholme’s home.

They then began an intensive clean-up operation at Studholme’s house, buying materials with money from Ms Spencer’s bank accounts.

By the time Ms Spencer was killed, Studholme was ‘in receipt of all of her benefits and had control of all of her finances’.

Studholme was caught with Ms Spencer’s personal documentation including bank accounts, disability allowance applications and Nationwide Trust fund documents.

Richardson said she saw the assaults on Ms Spencer by Pendlebury and Studholme but was not involved.

Ms Spencer used to be a healthy size 16 and was found dead in her flat in Hanwell, west London, after a neighbour raised the alarm

She sent a series of messages mocking and abusing Shakira.

Jurors were told on 14 July, that she sent a message to Carla Gilmaney saying: ‘I’ve just f*ck this b*tch up this b*tch…she ant going no we’re xx iamvgoing smash hur up nah joke.’

She sent another message saying she was going to ‘mash up’ Ms Spencer.

Richardson denied that she was controlling Ms Spencer and forcing her to clean her house.

READ MORE: Woman reduced from ‘voluptuous size 16’ to ‘skin and bone’ by torture gang scalded her with boiling water and burned her with a lit aerosol, trial hears

She said she did not know how badly Ms Spencer was injured because when she asked her something she ‘could only say bub, bub, bub.’

Pendlebury claimed he didn’t intervene when Studholme beat Ms Spencer to death because it ‘wasn’t his house’.

‘It’s not my place to do anything, it’s not my house,’ he told the jury.

He said that on 11 September he went into the kitchen and saw Studholme slapping Ms Spencer ‘dragging her, pulling her around and pushing her up against the cupboard door.

‘I saw Lisa dragging Shakira about and I think she kicked and stamped on her a couple of times.’

He said: ‘I didn’t get involved I just went about my business. I didn’t have no part. It had got to a point where seeing this just felt normal.

‘It was just another day, sadly. This happened every day with them.’

He said he didn’t call an ambulance because Ms Spencer was ‘a whole adult who knows her body.’

He then went to his uncle’s house and confessed to abusing Ms Spencer and asked him if he could get him a ticket to the Seychelles where his grandmother lived.

His uncle later contacted the police.

Pendlebury said Studholme has an overbearing character and he felt dominated by her, and that he has a low IQ, anxiety and a ‘highly compliant nature.’

Shaun Pendlebury’s mother Michelle said Studholme controlled her son and Richardson.

She said on one occasion Studholme had made her hit Ms Spencer herself.

She told police: ‘She’ll make you hit her too. She gets you riled up and you don’t even know why you’re just worked up.

Ashana Studholme was found guilty of Ms Spencer’s murder

‘She wants you under her feet every 24 hours of a day. I felt like I was there every single day.

‘I was at hers every single day, it was ‘Michelle, can you do this, do that..’

‘Even with partners she treated them like dogs.

‘If you don’t do what she says she’ll hit you mate, she kicks, she doesn’t care.’

Studholme did not give evidence at trial but previously served time in custody for punching and kicking a woman in the back.

The prosecutor told the court: ‘They stole her home…took over her finances, controlled her whereabouts, destroyed her clothes, cut off most of her hair and they beat her.

‘They scorched her, burnt her, beat her with a massager, left her to urinate herself and then they bundled her into the boot of a car, shoved her battered and bruised into a cupboard and left her to die.

‘They are guilty of murder, and it really is murder of the most foul.

‘They are guilty of denying a decent burial and I hope you do not lose one second of sleep if you do find them so.’

Pendlebury, of Tewkesbury Road, Richardson, of Broomcroft Avenue, both Ealing, and Studholme, of Greenhill Road, Harrow, all denied but were convicted of murder and preventing a lawful burial.

Judge Angela Rafferty KC ordered reports and remanded the three in custody ahead of sentencing in the new year.

Source: Read Full Article