Lengthy Jail Terms for 'Sadistic' Killers of Shakira Spencer

Trio who tortured and starved her will be in prison for over 30 years

Shaun Pendlebury, Ashana Studholme and Lisa Richardson. Picture: Met Police

March 5, 2024

The three people responsible for the murder of Shakira Spencer have been sentenced to each serve a minimum term of 34 years’ imprisonment.

39-year-old Ashana Studholme from Harrow, 26-year-old Shaun Pendlebury of Tewkesbury Road, Ealing, and 45-year-old Lisa Richardson of Broomcroft Avenue, Northolt, had already been found guilty in December last year.

A 12-week trial at the Old Bailey had heard lengthy evidence about how they tortured and starved 35-year-old Shakira before finally battering her to death and attempting to cover up their crime.

They were charged three days after their arrest and have been on remand since then and the 522 days will be deducted from their jail term. They were also each sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for preventing lawful burial on Friday (1 March).

The full extent of the crimes of Shakira’s killers only emerged as police launched an investigation after her body was found in her flat in Holbeck Road, West Ealing after a concerned neighbour noticed maggots crawling out from the front door.

A few hours later one of Pendlebury’s relatives called police to say that he had confessed to being involved in the killing of a woman and that Studholme and Richardson were also involved. The trio were arrested shortly afterwards.

Detectives discovered that Shakira had been a happy and healthy person until she started to fall under the control of her killers a year earlier. They took over her life, her home and her finances separating her from her children and her family.

She was then subject to a sustained campaign of beatings and degradation culminating in a frenzied and violent assault at some point between 9 and 12 September 2022 which left her seriously injured.

Instead of taking her to hospital, she was put in the boot of a car by Pendlebury and Studholme and returned to a flat where she was left.

Police believe that, as a result of wounds received at this time she died on 14 September.

Her killers made the mistake of using bank cards, including Shakira’s, to buy cleaning products in a failed attempt to remove evidence from the scene of the assault.

Further details of the extent of their offences were found after police seized their mobile phones in which they referenced the abuse they were inflicting on Shakira and exchanged images of her with mocking texts. Videos of Shakira being beaten up while the others laughed and jeered were also discovered.

In a statement, Shakira's family said, "Shakira was a beautiful soul who cared deeply about people and loved spending time with her family and friends. She was always thoughtful and wanted to be liked. Her eagerness to please people made her vulnerable.

"We have struggled as a family to come to terms with the fact that Shakira was controlled, enslaved and tortured by the defendants in the months leading up to her murder. The defendants took over her flat whilst she slept in the bike shed. They isolated her from her family and friends. Her children were poisoned against her. Shakira’s health deteriorated to the point she was almost unrecognisable. Her life was reduced to an empty and miserable existence. We will never be able to comprehend the defendants’ cruelty when Shakira would have only wanted to be their friend. We can only think that the defendants have done this for their own sadistic pleasure.

"We were incredibly pleased and relieved when we found out that all three defendants would be held accountable for their heinous crimes. However, nothing will bring Shakira back to us and her children will now grow up without their mother."

Shakira Spencer before and during her ordeal

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie said, “No sentence can ever bring Shakira back, or compensate for the loss of such a beloved family member, but my team and I are glad to see that the terms handed down today mean these three evil people will spend many, many years behind bars.

"During the trial Shakira's family and friends listened to deeply traumatising evidence of the depraved acts of cruel torment committed by the three defendants. They murdered Shakira in the most savage and inhumane way imaginable.

"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.

“The family’s ordeal has been compounded by the behaviour of the defendants, who have each lied, providing implausible accounts and explanations to try and absolve themselves of any responsibility. Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives were, there is no acceptable explanation for what Shakira was put through.