A predator who sexually assaulted and murdered an aspiring lawyer when she was on her way home had a previous relationship with an underage girl, it was claimed.
Today Jordan McSweeney, 29, pleaded guilty after attacking and killing 35-year-old Zara Aleena while she walked home from a night out on June 26.
Zara was just minutes from her home in Ilford, East London when McSweeney dragged her into a driveway and carried out the ferocious assault.
McSweeney sexually assaulted, brutally kicked and stamped on the law graduate before making off with her mobile phone, keys and handbag and leaving her for dead, the prosecution said.
Nadia, who is not using her real name, told MyLondon she had previously met McSweeney on a night out when he was 18.
She said he was fully aware that she was under the age of consent when the pair started dating.
She said: "We were always at his mate’s house or if it was just me and him we’d be in the car driving. We never went to any pubs, nothing like that, I was too young.”
She said that if she went to the police he could have been charged with any number of sexual offences, although she does not allege he was abusive towards her.
“He knew my age and didn’t say anything about it,” she added.
While the pair were dating, McSweeney had relationships with other girls and women, and at least one was under the age of consent, MyLondon reports.
Things ended when Nadia realised she was pregnant from a previous relationship.
She says they didn't speak to each other for years until she got a random message from him on Facebook.
She agreed to meet him and said she then left her son’s car seat in his vehicle. When she contacted him to get it back her told her something unsettling.
She said: “He said the car was with the police and I’d have to go down to the station to get it. I was just like 'I’ll get a new one'."
They lost contact again and she was unaware that McSweeney had been charged with the murder of Zara.
When she was told, she said: "I knew he was bad and he was a little sh*t. But I never thought he’d do anything like that."
Today, McSweeney pleaded guilty to sexual assault and murder following a brutal attack on Zara.
Police were called to the scene in Cranbrook Road just before 2.45am on June 26 where they found Zara with severe head injuries, partially naked and struggling to breathe. Zara died later that day in the hospital.
During the brief hearing, McSweeney, from Dagenham, east London, stood in the dock and stared at the floor as he entered his guilty pleas while Zara's family looked on in court.
Video footage from the area showed McSweeney appearing to target other women before he followed Zara.
After the killing, other CCTV captured him returning to his caravan in Dagenham, where police recovered Zara's bloodstained clothes.
More bloodstains were found on a wall in Cranbrook Road with the defendant's fingerprints identified on them.
McSweeney had only recently been released from prison and had targeted more than one woman before he preyed on Zara, the court heard.
Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC had said McSweeney launched an "attack upon a lone female late at night making her way home, a woman who stood no chance".
At a previous hearing, the court was told McSweeney was a prolific offender and had been released from prison on licence on June 17 - just days before the murder.
He had been in prison for criminal damage, racially aggravated harassment and unauthorised possession of a knife in prison.
He has 28 convictions for 69 separate offences including burglary, theft of a vehicle, criminal damage, assaulting police officers and assaulting members of the public while on bail.
After his arrest, McSweeney refused to answer questions but told officers he had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
While in custody, he was also said to have threatened police officers.
Having been charged with murder, he was remanded into custody after a judge found he was a "substantial risk" to the public, especially lone women.
Farah Naz, Zara's aunt, has previously praised her as independent and big-hearted, saying she "was the joy, the light of our home" and that the family were committed to effecting lasting change in society.
Naz added: "Zara was not a woman who was unaware that there were dangers in the world. She did not imagine what happened to those women would happen to her. She didn't know she was going to be on this list because in her mind she took those precautions."
Zara had begun working at the Royal Courts of Justice five weeks before her death and was "the happiest she had ever been", her family said.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb adjourned sentencing until December 14.
She told McSweeney: "You pleaded guilty to very serious matters. I'm sure you appreciate the kind of sentence you will receive.
"But I will listen very carefully to the Crown's opening of the case and the submissions on your behalf so it's in your interests to cooperate with those representing you."
