A mum was discovered lifeless and 'badly decomposed' in her child's bunkbed after disappearing for two weeks.
Two women and a man appeared at the Old Bailey in London on Tuesday suspected of murdering Shakira Spencer, 35, in her home in Hanwell, Ealing.
Police were called to the property after 4.30pm on September 25 after receiving reports of concerns for her welfare and forced entry to her flat, MyLondon reports.
She was pronounced dead at the scene with a provisional forensic post-mortem failing to find a cause of death due to the extent of decomposition.
Appearing in court today over Shakira's shocking death were Shaun Pendlebury, 25, pregnant 37-year-old Ashana Studholme, and Lisa Richardson, 43, who have each been remanded into custody.
Prosecutor Ben Holt said: “On Sunday, September 25, police were called to Flat 9 Lambeth House by a neighbour. That was the home address of Shakira Spencer.
"The neighbour was concerned about Ms Spencer’s whereabouts having not recently heard from her. She had also noticed a smell coming from her flat.
“Officers forced entry and the body of the deceased was found at the bottom bunkbed of the children’s bedroom and was badly decomposed."
The neighbour confirmed that she had known Shakira for 10 years and had recently noticed a change in her behaviour and that she had lost weight and her children had been taken by social services.
The Old Bailey heard that she had allegedly been detained over a number of days at an address and had allegedly been subjected to 'beatings'.
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She was then allegedly returned to her own address, where she was later discovered by the police in a decomposed state. Pendlebury, Studholme, and Richardson were arrested the following day and charged with her murder last Thursday.
Detective chief inspector Brian Howie, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “I am pleased that we have secured charges against these three individuals as we continue to work to get justice for Shakira’s family.
"They are understandably devastated and specialist officers are continuing to provide them with whatever support we can."
The inspector issued a plea for people who knew Shakira to come forward to help detectives piece her life together.
A plea hearing and trial preparation date has been set for December 20.
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