The evil neighbour who led ‘pack of feral savages’ to kill Shakira Spencer: How killer lured vulnerable mother into drink, drugs and isolation before taking control of her money and torturing her to death

An angry neighbor who befriended a vulnerable woman and led a ‘pack of wild savages’ to torture her to death lured her into using drink and drugs after the relationship with her victim broke down.

Ashana Studholme, 38, was one of three killers who starved and beat mother-of-two Shakira Spencer, 35, to death in west London in 2022.

Along with friend Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and Lisa Richardson, 44, Studholme reduced a “beautiful, happy, healthy” Mrs Spencer from a size 16 to a “skinny and skeletal” size six, feeding her only ketchup packets.

On Friday, Studholme, Pendlebury and Richardson were each given a minimum term of 34 years.

On September 12, 2022, the trio beat Ms Spencer to within an inch of her life before stuffing her in the boot of a car and then locking her in the cupboard of her own home, leaving her to die and her body to rot. She was only found when a neighbor saw maggots crawling under the front door two weeks later.

Ms Spencer first befriended Studholme in 2021 when they became neighbors following the break-up of her relationship.

She was known as a “sweet” person, neighbors said, but was also described as “very slow and socially awkward” — a fact that police said made her vulnerable to abuse.

Studholme soon wormed his way into Mrs. Spencer’s life, eventually taking over her finances and controlling her every move.

A three-month trial revealed that Studholme was the leader of ‘a pack of savages’.

She had previous criminal convictions for violence, including a 2013 incident in which she kicked and punched a woman in the back as she lay in the street.

After being jailed for the crime, she admitted a racially aggravated attack on another woman in 2017.

“Shakira Spencer was clearly viewed as less than human by these three evil suspects,” prosecutor Allison Hunter KC told the court.

Det Ch Insp Brian Howie of the Metropolitan Police, who led the murder investigation, said Ms Spencer just wanted a group of friends she could rely on. Instead, she found herself at the center of a circle of evil.

He said: ‘I think she just wanted to be cared for and loved, to have a friendship group around her and she was just coerced and manipulated by these people over a long period of time.’

He described Studholme as follows: ‘Ashana Studholme is a cruel, manipulative, coercive individual.

‘She seems to have power over people and controls them. She’s just a mean person.’

After initially befriending her, Mrs. Spencer soon found herself completely controlled by Studholme.

Studholme isolated her from friends and family and ensured all of Mrs Spencer’s money came directly to her.

She was effectively enslaved on behalf of the trio and often had to get up in the early morning hours to run errands for them.

Mrs Spencer was forced to sleep under newspapers in the hallway at Studholme’s house.

Following their arrests, police officers found hundreds of messages on their phones describing the horrific abuse and violence they had subjected Ms Spencer to.

Richard and Studholme were found to have shared mocking images of her, while videos were also recovered of Ms Spencer being beaten up as the others watched.

The abuse Ms Spencer suffered gradually increased until she fell victim to a final sustained attack over the course of a weekend at Studholme’s flat in Harrow in September 2022.

Boiling water was poured over her, a lighter and a syringe cap were used as a burner and she was hit on the head with a heavy massager.

After returning her to her flat in Ealing, west London, the trio took steps to rid the property of any trace of them, as well as their own property of DNA or items belonging to Mrs Spencer.

Police later found paperwork showing Studholme received all of Ms Spencer’s benefits.

Documents believed to be part of the evidence against her were hidden under her mattress or stored in a bag marked with the phrase: ‘It wasn’t me’.

Prosecutor Ms Hunter told the trial: ‘In the months leading up to her murder the defendants, mainly Studholme and Richardson, so completely subjugated and dominated Shakira that she was under their complete control.

“She was isolated from everyone she had known before, her free will seemingly undermined and stolen from her.

‘They stole her self-respect and her finances, took over her flat, treated her like a slave, ordered her to wake up in the early morning hours to clean their houses, sent her to the shops to do shopping, left her alone sachets of ketchup and then in circumstances of incredible depravity, bragged about and sometimes photographed and filmed what they were doing and planning 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 wild attack over several days – burning her, setting her on fire, hitting her on the head, beating her with belts and with hitting fists. and a glass bottle.

‘When that didn’t kill her straight away, she was put in a boot, taken to her own flat and locked in a cupboard and even refused food and drink until she died.

‘She was then left to rot in a bed while they tried to clear away anything that showed their involvement.

“Shakira Spencer was clearly viewed by these defendants as less than human.”

Following their sentencing, Chief Inspector Brian Howie said: “My thoughts today, and those of my team, are with the family and friends of Shakira Spencer. During the trial they listened to deeply traumatizing evidence of the depraved acts of indescribable cruel torment committed by the three defendants.

“They killed Shakira in the most cruel and inhumane way imaginable.

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

“Shakira could have been vulnerable and these defendants took advantage of that by controlling and isolating her from everyone she knew, controlling and enslaving her in the most dehumanizing and degrading way.

“The family’s ordeal has been made worse by the behavior of the defendants, all of whom have lied and given implausible statements and explanations in an attempt to absolve themselves of any responsibility.

“Whatever their cruel and sadistic motives, there is no acceptable explanation for what was done to Shakira.”