Prison worker pleads GUILTY to having illicit relationship with Zara Aleena’s murderer at Britain’s most secure jail
A PRISON worker has pleaded guilty to having an “inappropriate relationship” with Zara Aleena’s killer.
Hayley Jones embarked on a month-long fling with Jordan McSweeney, 31, after growing close to him at HMP Belmarsh.
The 33-year-old appeared at Woolwich Crown Court today where she admitted misconduct in a public office.
McSweeney was due to appear but officers at HMP Long Lartin told the court that he was “having difficulty with walking”.
He is accused of encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence.
McSweeney – serving a life sentence for murdering Zara – has not yet entered a plea to the charge.
He and Jones were in a relationship between March 6, 2023, and April 7, 2023.
Jones, from Strood in Kent, was arrested in April last year after police received an allegation of inappropriate conduct.
She was also suspended from her role as a workshop instructor at Britain’s most secure jail after the claim came to light.
McSweeney had been released from a prison sentence just nine days before he pounced on Zara, 35, as she walked home.
His licence had been revoked after failing to meet probation officers but he was not recalled to prison.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.
On the night of Zara‘s murder, 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 Zara, a law graduate, McSweeney dragged her into a driveway where he repeatedly kicked and stamped on her.
Zara was discovered partially clothed and struggling to breathe by horrified neighbours who heard her screams.
The aspiring lawyer had just started working at the Royal Courts of Justice when she was killed in June 2022.
A post-mortem gave her cause of death as blunt force trauma injury and neck compression.
McSweeney was jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years in December of that year after admitting murder and sexual assault.
This was later reduced to 33 years following a successful appeal at the Court of Appeal.