Three people were jailed for murdering a vulnerable woman they “treated like a slave” by starving, torturing and beating her.
Ashana Studholme, 39, her lover Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend Lisa Richardson, 45, were handed life sentences with a minimum term of 34 years each for killing Shakira Spencer and preventing her lawful burial.
The trio were found guilty of murdering the 35-year-old following a trial at the Old Bailey.
They beat and tortured Ms Spencer, including scalding her feet and feeding her only ketchup from sachets.
Her badly decomposed body was found in September 2022 after neighbours saw maggots coming from her flat in Ealing, west London.
The mother-of-two had fallen under the influence of her former neighbour, Studholme, and was subjected to “dehumanising and degrading” treatment by the group.
The defendants, from west London, subdued and dominated Ms Spencer to the point that she was under their “complete control”.
She was isolated, prostituted and robbed of her self-respect and finances over many months.
She went from being a “beautiful, happy, healthy” size 16 to a “gaunt and skeletal” size six shortly before her death.
Sentencing the trio, Judge Angela Rafferty KC said none of them took any responsibility and continued to blame each other for Ms Spencer’s death.
“This murder is marked by extreme, calculated and brutal violence and torture,” she said, describing what happened to Ms Spencer as an “orgy of violence”.
“I am of no doubt that you all intended to kill Shakira. This was a sadistic campaign in which you all took pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering on a vulnerable woman,” the judge added.
This video has been edited to remove graphic descriptions of extreme violence and to comply with reporting restrictions.
The judge’s sentencing remarks can be read in full at: https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/the-king-v-pendlebury-and-others/
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On the 11th of December 2023 you were all convicted by a jury of the murder of Shakira Spencer and preventing her lawful burial the trial lasted 12 weeks the jury heard evidence of such Grim nature that I have excused each juror from jury service for the rest of their lives if they
Wish Shakira Spencer was a healthy and loving young woman of 35 years old images of Shakira before she fell under your influence show her full of life healthy and smiling she is unrecognizable at the end emaciated broken all who watched it will be slow to forget the CCTV footage of
Shakira trying to walk on scolded feet in the middle of the night you Pendery lived in her her flat while she slept in a bike shed you stol started as a friend but ended as the worst kind of enemy a person could have you Richardson showed Shakira nothing but exceptional contempt and aggression
Leading up to her Murder She was routinely and continually humiliated degraded and dehumanized I heard you sha Pendery and you Lisa Richardson give evidence the lack of pity empathy or decency towards Shakira was marked in everything you said even when on trial in front of a jury I read the pre-sentence report
About you Asana Stadol none of you take any responsibility and you continue to blame each other to this day you have no remorse you your only concern as it has been throughout is for yourselves I want to ensure that the valuable life of Shakira Spencer is not forgotten in this sentencing
Exercise I have heard and read from those who knew her they’ve described her particular qualities of innocence and vulnerability she was lovable soft and trusting easy to take advantage of and she needed a lot of help and support she was shy and timid she had succeeded in living an independent
Productive life for quite some time albeit with difficulties her friend said that a calculated person would easily be able to exploit Shakira and she was no match for the three of you her mother describes her attempts to help her child and how much love she has for her and
Will continue to have for her she says that her life will never be the same her own health is shattered and she has nightmares about Shakira being in the dark trapped dying and calling for her Shakira’s father described the complete despair of all the family and he says
That Shakira was a beautiful soul but vulnerable and that it is unimaginable that she could have been treated this way the jury heard how before her death you all isolated your victim and treated her like a servant you frightened her you assaulted her you starved her and
The jury heard details such as Shakira being forced to eat ketchup sachet for food other people being invited to join in the abuse constant insults and belittling and a growing sense throughout the evidence that you could behave towards her in whichever way you thought fit they heard from Witnesses who were
Shocked at her physical decline she was seen in the weeks leading up to her death with dramatic injuries to her face and her mother saw terrible bruising all over her body as if she had been TR trampled on you all seemed to enjoy the power that you had over Shakira Spencer
There was evidence of the kind of pack mentality between you there is footage that the jury saw and I’ve looked at again today of her being degraded and assaulted on the 4th of September before her death Shakira had become a commodity and an object to you3 the cross-examination of you Lisa Richardson
Made it clearer than it had ever been that you were involved in prostituting Shakira the messages on your phone show a Litany of savagery and depravity which culminated in her murder only you three know what made you behave like this and you’ve offered no explanations other than to blame each
Other and to try to evade responsibility from the evidence it is clear that you all acted together throughout this catalog of brutality you as sh St home wiped your telephone you Sean pendelbury deliberately disposed of yours I am quite sure it is clear from the messages that are available on Lisa Richardson’s phone
That violence and degradation of Shakira was planned discussed and threatened regularly you were all in this together and I look to your proved conduct when assessing the gravity of this offense this murder was marked by extreme cruelty brutal violence and torture by the morning of the 9th of September
2022 Shakira was already bleeding and already badly injured to her head feet and body this is the state that she was in when the final fatal attacks began I saw you saw you sha Pender tell Shakira to kneel down and then you hit her on her head with a glass bottle you then
Kicked her causing her to fall you all three then circled her as she tried to ask you to stop stop and she was crying out in pain Shakira was told to strip by you Asana St home and was filmed an aerosol spray with a lighter was used to
Burn Shakira when your thumb St home became sore from pressing the lighter you passed it to sha Pendery to continue following this first bite of violence Shakira passed out hit her head and was dragged by youon Pendery to the hallway where she slept that night underne newspapers in her own
Urine the next day Shakira’s torment continued and more depraved violence took place despite her grave injuries Shakira was then put in the boot of a car and driven to her flat on the 12th of September no attempt was me made to get her any assistance of any kind including medical
Assistance the last footage of her alive shows her stumbling and falling and being pulled along once inside she was placed in a Cupboard this for her mother is one of the worst things that her family have to think about leaving Shakira in that cupboard was barbaric given the orgy of violence I am
In no doubt that you all intended to kill Shakira Spencer I am also sure on all the evidence including that given by you Pender and you Richardson that this was a sadistic killing in which you all took pleasure at in inflicting pain suffering and humiliation on a vulnerable
Woman the cleanup and the cover up had begun be even before Shakira had died in the days after she was put in the cupboard you all worked together to conceal her death and to make it look like she had died of natural causes the contempt for her continued even in
Death incense sticks and ice packs were used placed around the body you attempted to borrow vehicles to dispose of her it could not have been a more concerted effort to try to conceal the truth of what you had done the outside world was only alerted by the maggots
Crawling from under her front door her body was found badly decomposed on one of her young children’s beds on the 25th of September Enderby were taken to your uncle’s and you told him some of what had happened your uncle did the right thing and called the police the fact that Shakira’s body was
So decomposed could not meant that the cause of her death could not be pathologically ascertained this was explored in detail at trial the pathologist said that she had de gloving injuries to her feet and hands there were six areas of injury to her head including four separate area of full thickness
Lacerations which could have been caused by blunt trauma there was a possible fracture to her left eye socket and her left ear had been crushed consistent with having her head stamped on the pathologist told the jury about the possible effects which can be delayed of such head injury there could have been
No doubt that Shakira Spencer died of her injuries there is no difference to make between your roles I reject all the offered mitigation that you have differing levels of culpability you all joined in this killing and cover up with equal verocity and planning albeit playing different parts having considered the provisions
Of schedule 21 of the sentencing act 2020 and in particular paragraph 3 subsection 1 e i conclude that your offending is of particularly High seriousness the levels of brutality were wholly exceptional and Shakira’s suffering was extreme as I have said it was proved Beyond doubt at trial that this was a sadistic
Murder By Law I must set a minimum term that you must serve before you can even be considered for release this is not your sentence your sentence will be life imprisonment the starting point for the minimum term of a murder like this is set by law at 30 years this takes into
Account the sadistic brutality in the killing I must also consider what other factors make these offenses even more serious I have heard all about your previous convictions I questioned the relevance of yours as sh stad home as they do involve previous attacks on a woman and neglect of a child those of
Sha Pender and Lisa Richardson are not relevant here I have decided that giving given the very long sentence that you all face I will not increase the minimum terms for these matters as I am urged to do by the prosecution and the defense however the additional aggravating features here are
Significant they are the prolonged campaign of humiliation and violence leading up to Shakira’s murder premeditation planning involved in both the violence beforehand and the murder itself the group nature of the offending and you filmed her suffering and degraded and humiliated her when you killed her C two I will treat as an aggravating
Feature none of you have shown any remorse for what you have done before mitigation the minimum term would be 35 years I have to consider any mitigating factors that there may be under schedule 21 as well as any personal to you it is a struggle to find any mitigation for
Any of you Pendery you’ve got a low IQ and I’ve read reports about your functioning it is said that you are compliant and a follower rather than a leader however I saw you give evidence and my judgment is that you were a fully involved member of this group who tortured Shakira
Sadistically you had ample opportunity to step away you took a full part in her ill treatment you lived in her flat while she slept in the bike shed the film of you all taunting Shakir on the 4th of September is instructive I saw nothing in you to suggest that you were
Unwillingly under the power or control of any others you are 26 you lived independently and I do not accept the submission that you are a child yourself this was not the way that you present it to me I will give you some limited credit for your psychological problems
And the deficiencies that have been drawn to my attention and your background stud home you are not mentally ill or psychotic you have a personality that is aggressive dominant and manipulative you took full advantage of Shakira Spencer you have provided evidence of what you are doing in prison there is considerable evidence
That you look to systems and individuals with an eye to control and benefit yourself and in fact this became an issue in this trial towards the end when you wrote notes to Lisa Richardson in the dock you have told the probation officer a pack of manipulative lies and
You have shown No Remorse whatsoever you too have very little personal mitigation other than some personal factors relating to your background Lisa Richardson your tone of AG grieved self-regard continues as do your denials and prevarications you played a central role in the beating and degradation of Shakira Spencer leading up to her death
In fact after your arrival on the scene the mistreatment of Shakira intensified considerably the messages make this clear it is said said and I have read that you are showing yourself to be a caring and sympathetic individual towards others in custody this is a side that Shakira
Spencer didn’t see your complete lack of empathy came across throughout your evidence the pration officer recognized in assessing you as have I your sadistic motiv motivation I will take into account some limited personal mitigation stand up the three of you the sentence for murder is fixed by law
And it’s a life sentence and I sentence all three of you to life imprisonment for the murder of Shakira Spencer there will be 5 years concurrent for K two please understand that you may never be released the prison service will manage you and will try to reduce the risk that
You are to the public if that is possible you will be subject to the terms of your life sentence for the rest of your lives the minimum term that must pass before the parole board can even begin to look at your case is 34 years minus 522 days take the three of them
Down please