Zara Aleena killer skips court over ‘jail fling’ as he ‘can’t be bothered’

Zara Aleena’s murderer has refused to appear in court over an alleged “inappropriate relationship” with a former prison worker.

Jordan McSweeney, 31, failed to appear via video link at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday (September 25) because he “can’t be bothered”, staff at HMP Long Lartin told the court.

McSweeney was due to appear alongside Hayley Jones, 33, who has been charged with acting in a way “which amounted to an abuse of the public’s trust”.

A member of staff at Long Lartin told Judge David Miller via video link: “I despatched an officer at 13:30 to collect him from his prison cell.

“At 13:40 I got a message saying he had refused to attend because he can’t be bothered”.

Judge Miller asked the member of staff, “Is that a quote?”, to which they responded “Yes”.

He added: “If he continues to refuse to engage with proceedings then proceedings will go ahead in his absence. He must be reminded about the consequences of not being bothered to engage next time.”

The member of prison staff told the court McSweeney had also refused to sign failure to attend documents.

McSweeney and Ms Jones have been accused of having an inappropriate relationship at HMP Belmarsh.

Ms Jones, of Strood in Kent, appeared in person on Wednesday. She is accused of misconduct in a public office between March 6 2023 and April 7 2023.

McSweeney has been charged with encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence. No pleas to the charges were entered during the short hearing. The case has been adjourned until October 31.

McSweeney killed 35-year-old Ms Aleena as she walked home from a night out in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of June 26, 2022.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 38 years at the Old Bailey in December 2022 after admitting to sexually assaulting and murdering her.

In November 2023, he won a Court of Appeal bid to reduce the minimum term of his life sentence to 33 years.