'Twisted, sadistic' lovers and friend starved, tortured and burned ex-neighbour before murdering her

A woman was murdered by a 'twisted, sadistic' trio after they tortured, starved and battered her to death.

Shakira Spencer died after falling under the influence of her former neighbour Ashana Studholme, 38, her lover Shaun Pendlebury, 26, and their friend Lisa Richardson, 44. They 'treated her like a slave', a court heard, and 35-year-old Shakira went from being a “beautiful, happy, healthy” size 16 to a “gaunt and skeletal” size six shortly before her death.

Last September, her badly decomposed body was found after neighbours saw maggots coming from her flat in Ealing, west London.

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The three defendants had denied murder and preventing Ms Spencer’s lawful burial. But on Monday, a jury found all three defendants guilty of both charges against them. Pendlebury reacted by clapping his hands and walking out of the dock.

Previously, jurors heard how Ms Spencer had been subdued and dominated mainly by Studholme and Richardson to the point where she was under all of their “complete control”.

Over many months, she was isolated, prostituted and robbed of her self-respect and finances, it was claimed. She would be woken up in the early hours to clean the defendants’ houses and sent on errands to the shops.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter KC said: “In early 2021 Shakira Spencer had been a healthy – even voluptuous – size 16 weighing some 74kgs (11st 9lb).

“By July 2022 Shakira Spencer was just skin and bone. Gaunt and skeletal, bruised from head to foot, with hollowed black eyes. She was barely a scrawny size six in images taken by the defendants just before