Zara Aleena: Friend of aspiring lawyer says violence against women in London ‘must stop now’

The best friend of Zara Aleena said they had talked about the horrific murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa and felt the safety on the streets of London “was getting worse”.

Zara Aleena, 35, was killed on Cranbrook Road in Ilford, a road she was familiar with as she regularly walked from the home she shared with her mother in Ilford to help her grandmother in Gants Hill with the gardening.

Scotland Yard said Ms Aleena, who worked at the Royal Courts of Justice, suffered serious head injuries as she walked in the direction of Gants Hill Station, Ilford early on Sunday.

She was with friends but they split up moments before she was attacked.

Zara’s best friend for nearly two decades Lisa, 35, told The Standard: “I’ve done all my crying to the point where I’m just angry now. When we were young we would always walk from Ilford to Gants Hill and back again she was familiar with it.

“She is the sort of person who likes to walk. You should be able to walk on your own.”

With her keen interest in law, Zara hoped for change after the deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa but the friends both agreed the streets “were just getting worse”.

Lisa said: “Never in a million years did we think it could happen to her. I don’t know what’s wrong with people that someone can kill her like that. It needs to stop now. There can’t be another Zara, no.”

“We were upset for Sarah Everard and these other women but we genuinely never thought it would happen to us ever.

“We thought we were careful or we would spot someone coming or sense it. But what the hell.”

She added: “I like going out but now I’m f**king scared. She was a strong girl you would never expect it to happen to her. Maybe someone vulnerable but not her. If it can happen to her it can happen to any woman.

“I can’t stop thinking about whether she knew she was going to die when the attacker was doing this.

“If I was there with her I would have battered him for my life.

“She’s a strong girl I would hope she would put up a fight.

“How can you defend yourself?”

“Whenever we were followed by men or they would give us the eye, we would always protect each other and get out of there.

Police have a 29-year-old man in custody arrested on suspicion of murder.

Paying tribute to Zara, Lisa said: “Everyone loved her, she was like my twin sister.

“She had this unique voice, so cute and sounded so young. She was very friendly and talkative.

“She loved animals, especially cats. She wanted to be a good lawyer and get justice for people, now someone has to make sure she gets justice.

“She was so excited for her future. I’m in shock she is the closest person to me in the whole entire world.

“I just want to phone her now and ask her ‘how are you doing?’ I have no-one else to speak to.”

Speaking of how they met at Westminster Kingsway College 18 years ago where they both studied Psychology and Sociology, Lisa added:

“We were both the same height, quite short and very bubbly and chatty. We told each other everything. No-one else could get a word in.”

Lisa said she had texted Zara just hours before her death. Lisa then went to do meditation before turning her phone back days later to be flooded with messages about Zara’s murder.

She said: ““I tried to phone her but it was switched off. She always has it on. It just didn’t sink in it still hasn’t. My first thought was who would want to hurt her?”

Lisa said she blames herself for delaying plans with Zara on that fateful night but the two had made time for each other this weekend.

“We were going to stay at mine all weekend but we don’t really like to plan things”, she said.

“We were in the countryside a few weeks ago and then we visited Southend and then Brighton beach. We loved nature, I will always cherish those moments.”

Ms Aleena is the 16th woman killed in an act of violence in London so far in 2022 – a third of the 50 homicides being investigated by the Met, British Transport and City of London forces.

The ratio is higher than the same time last year, when 13 out of 60 victims were female.

Anyone with information should call the major incident room on 0208 345 3715 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.