A PRISON worker has appeared in court charged over an “inappropriate relationship” with Zara Aleena’s killer while in Britain’s most secure jail.
Hayley Jones is accused of having a month-long fling with Jordan McSweeney, 31, after growing close to him at HMP Belmarsh.
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The 33-year-old is appearing at Woolwich Crown Court today charged with misconduct in a public office.
McSweeney – serving a life sentence for murdering Zara – is due to appear via videolink from HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire.
He has been charged with encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence.
The pair were allegedly 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His licence had been revoked after failing to meet probation officers but he was not recalled to prison.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.
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