A MONSTER was free to kill Zara Aleena after a probation blunder meant he was not recalled to prison just days before the murder, an inquest heard.
Evil Jordan McSweeney pounced on the law graduate as she walked home just nine days after he was released from a prison sentence.
The killer licence he was on at the time for a string of offences had been revoked after he failed to meet probation officers but he was not recalled to prison.
This meant the predator was free to roam the streets hunting for a victim.
An inquest into Zara‘s death heard today how a report to recall him was signed on June 24, 2022, with police given the power to arrest him that day.
But Kim Thornden-Edwards, chief probation officer for England and Wales, admitted there were delays in sending paperwork to get the ball rolling.
She also accepted there were delays in allocating the McSweeney’s case to a probation officer.
The killer was on licence for criminal damage, racially aggravated harassment and unauthorised possession of a knife in prison.
He had 28 previous convictions for 69 offences – including burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, driving offences, criminal property, assaults on police and assaults on members of the public.
He had been released from prison for robbery on June 17, 2022 – just nine days before the savage attack.
After breaching the conditions of his licence, his recall to prison was initiated on June 22, 2022, and signed off two days later.
But in the early hours of June 26, 2022, McSweeney was captured on CCTV stalking the streets of East London.
At least four other women managed to escape the killer’s clutches as he followed them in the darkness.
One even ran for safety into a home on the same street were Zara was brutally murdered.
After setting his sights on the law graduate, McSweeney dragged her into a driveway where he repeatedly kicked and stamped on her.
Zara was discovered partially clothed and struggling to breath by horrified neighbours who heard her screams.
Her family yesterday told the inquest how they are “tortured by thoughts that (Zara’s) death was preventable”.
Aunt Farah Naz said her niece’s murder highlighted “the crumbling justice system that is meant to protect all of us, especially women and girls”.
McSweeney was jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years in December 2022 after admitting murder and sexual assault.
This was later reduced to 33 years following a successful appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The inquest continues.
