The mother was given only ketchup sachets as she was enslaved, tortured, burned and beaten to death by three “sadistic” murderers, according to the court ruling

A mother was given only ketchup sachets as she was enslaved, tortured, burned and beaten to death by three “sadistic” murderers, a court has heard.

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

Ashana Studholme, 38, her lover Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and Lisa Richardson, 44, all deny murder and preventing a lawful burial.

Allison Hunter KC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey that the three killers controlled and tortured Ms Spencer, who was described as a “beautiful, happy, healthy” woman.

“Whatever their cruel, sadistic motive, these three defendants tormented, tortured, starved, burned and ultimately beat Shakira to death,” Ms. Hunter said.

Shakira Spencer, 35, (pictured) was fed ketchup sachets as she was enslaved, tortured, burned and beaten to death by three “sadistic” murderers, a court has heard

“In the months leading up to her murder, the defendants, particularly Studholme and Richardson, so completely subjugated and dominated Shakira that she was completely under their control.

“She was isolated from everyone she had previously known, her free will seemingly eroded and stolen.”

“They stole her self-respect and her finances, took over her apartment, prostituted her (or so they claimed), treated her like a slave, ordered her to wake up in the early hours of the morning to clean their houses and sent her there went to the stores to run her errands and fed only ketchup sachets.

Ms Hunter added: “Then in circumstances of incredible depravity, [they] bragged about it and occasionally photographed and filmed what they wanted and were doing to her.

“The final blows to the brink of her death probably occurred between September 11th and 12th in the home of Ashana Studholme.”

Ms Spencer was once a “voluptuous size 14” but was reduced to “skin and bones” in July last year, the jury heard.

The court heard the victim was forced into the boot of a red Honda Civic vehicle Pendlebury had borrowed from his aunt on the evening of September 12.

It was driven by him and Studholme back to Shakira’s flat in Hanwell.

They placed her body in a cupboard in their hallway while they returned to Studholme’s home in Greenhill Road, Harrow, and “started the clean-up work with Lisa”, the prosecutor said.

“They had initially planned to dispose of her body in a caravan which Pendlebury had borrowed from the same aunt on September 15, 2022,” Ms Hunter said.

“Pendlebury never returned the trailer to his aunt, but after the three defendants set about removing what they believed to be traces of Shakira’s blood, bodily fluids and DNA from their respective premises and attempting to remove traces of her presence in “To clear out Shakira’s apartment after she lay dead.”

Shakira was found dead by police at her home in Hanwell, west London, on September 25, 2022 (pictured) after a neighbor discovered maggots crawling from under her front door

Ms Hunter said the defendants were caught on CCTV buying cleaning products and walking towards Shakira’s apartment in the early hours of September 16.

“Her decomposition must have been so bad that they couldn’t risk moving her any longer. “So they just left her there to be found,” Ms Hunter said.

“It was only when neighbors saw maggots crawling out from under their door that police were called to Shakira’s address on Sunday, September 25, 2022, and the painstaking investigation that followed uncovered in detail what they had done.”

“Shakira’s decomposition was so severe that the exact mechanism that caused her death could not be determined.”

“The autopsy revealed severe injuries to where her left ear would have been, four ‘defect areas’ on her scalp representing full-thickness lacerations that would have been inflicted on her while she was alive, and defects to the bone of her left eye .” Power outlet.’

Ms Hunter added that the injuries included the removal of epidermal gloves on the feet, which is associated with scalding – “one of the activities that Shaun Pendlebury admitted to his mother and uncle that he had taken part in.”

At the beginning of 2021, Shakira was a “healthy, even voluptuous size 16,” the prosecutor said.

“In July 2022, Shakira Spencer was skin and bones.

“She was gaunt and bruised from head to toe and had deep black eyes. In pictures taken by the defendants shortly before her death, she was barely thin, a size 36.’

Ms Hunter explained to the jury how Shakira met the three defendants.

“They are connected to each other and, at a distance, to Shakira through a complex web of relationships.”

“Shaun Pendlebury is Michelle Pendlebury’s son.

“Michelle and Eli Shaun Pendlebury confessed to his involvement in the torture that led to the death of Shakira Spencer; and from Fern he was to borrow her car, which was used to transport Shakira in the trunk, her trailer, which was to be disposed of with Shakira’s body in it, and where he left a suitcase full of cleaning products that he and his co-defendants had used “Clean the Apartment where Shakira died and decomposed.”

“Michelle Pendlebury knew Lisa Richardson as her sister’s friend, and Lisa Richardson’s brother Craig was a friend of Shaun’s, which undoubtedly led to him meeting Lisa.”

Ms Hunter added: “Studholme and Richardson used Shakira’s bank and ATM cards at will for food, sundries, taxi rides etc, but in acts of particularly callous, inhumane savagery and ironic brutality, they also used them to purchase the materials that they needed.” sought to remove traces of Shakira’s bodily fluids and DNA that would reveal the extent and locations of her final beatings and the stowage of her barely conscious body leading up to her death.

The court also heard that Richardson sent a series of messages mocking and insulting Shakira.

On July 14, she sent a message to Carla Gilmaney that said, “I just screwed that bastard…she ain’t sayin’ ‘we’re on our way.’ No, joke.”

She sent another message saying she would “bash” Shakira, sources said.

The next day, Richardson allegedly sent a message saying, “So in the end she deserved everything she got… I didn’t even hit her that much – I just gave her a few slaps.” heard) slap 1-2-3, but no.’

On July 22, Richardson sent a message that showed Shakira with an elongated nose, the court heard.

“In August there were further images of Shakira beaten with black eyes and lying either asleep or unconscious on Lisa Richardson’s sofa, which she sent with an accompanying message: ‘Look who I have’.”

Pendlebury, Richardson and Studholme all deny murder and preventing a lawful burial.

The process continues.