No matter what time it was, her blue Peugeot was almost always parked in her grandmother’s driveway. With trainers and party shoes tucked away in her bag, she enjoyed the freedom of her own feet. In the early hours of Sunday morning, a friend tried to get her into an Uber, but she insisted: walking was what she liked best. Until that night, there was little sign that her fearlessness was misplaced. But just after 2am, while walking to her grandmother’s house in Ilford, Aleena, 35, was attacked and killed. Jordan McSweeney, 29, from Dagenham, has been charged with murder, attempted rape and robbery and was refused bail on Friday. Aleena, who was 1.55m (5ft 1in) tall and slight, “like a little fairy”, as a friend put it, was also fearless. Her maternal aunt, Farah Naz, told reporters on Friday: “She was quite different from the rest of us because Zara was not afraid. “Whenever Zara walked, this was her home because she knew everyone.” Sherit Nair said Aleena’s help enabled him to pass the tube driver’s theory exam in 2019. Sherit Nair, 46, a friend who lives in Gants Hill, Ilford, said Aleena often went on walks between her mother’s and grandmother’s house. “She was sweet and innocent, she didn’t see the world in a horrible way,” he said. “He didn’t really understand the dangers of the world. “Although she had a car, she liked to walk places. She really only used her car to help her mum and nanny, to take them to the shops and stuff.’ On Saturday, Aleena’s family and friends will walk the route she would have taken home. Mourners dressed in white will walk from the scene of the attack on Cranbook Road to Gants Hill, 10 minutes away, to “bring her back to where she safely belonged”. Her death shocked friends and family and made them determined to make the streets safer for women. Lisa Hodgson (left) and Aleena were best friends. Her best friend Lisa Hodgson, 35, said: “Something needs to be done to keep women safe.” The two friends often took long walks together. Aleena loved animals and would stop to feed the cats on the road. “She loved cats, especially black cats, and she used to re-home them,” Hodgson said. Hodgson last saw her on a weekend in the countryside near Reading earlier in June. Aleena loved to get out in nature and they took a friend’s dog for a walk. “I will always cherish this past weekend together and those memories,” Hodgson said. Walking is very different for Hodgson now. “Nothing usually scares me, but now I’m scared. I was walking home yesterday and a man came up to me and I automatically jumped.” Hodgson wishes he had made plans with Alina that weekend. “He wanted to meet me that weekend and I said, ‘Can we meet up next weekend?’ I wish I had met her that weekend.” In her final message to Hodgson on Friday night, Aleena wrote: “Missing your beautiful face this weekend xx can’t wait to see you next weekend xxx.” This weekend they had planned to go to the beach – in Brighton or Bournemouth – if the weather was good. Instead, Hodgson will walk in Aleena’s memory. The pair met as teenagers while studying sociology, business and psychology together at a further education college in King’s Cross and were soon inseparable. “When I met her, we both had this instant connection. We had so many similarities. We both had long hair, we were short and so talkative.” They lived on different sides of town and talked for hours on the phone when they couldn’t meet. “We would tell each other every detail, like when we got up and got dressed. It sounds silly but every little thing. If I didn’t hear from her for two days, we’d talk for hours to catch up.” Chantelle Cole (left) said Aleena would help her by babysitting. Aleena found time for many friends. Chantelle Cole, 29, who lived nearby, said Aleena “was amazing, always smiling” and would listen to her for hours while Cole discussed her problems. She was always quick to offer help. “Being a single mother, if I needed to go out and do something, it would help take care of the baby.” Putting the needs of others first was a common refrain among Aleena’s friends. Nair said: “She was selfless, always putting her family first and her friends second. It was the last thing on her mind.” While Nair was revising his tube guide theory exams in 2019, they were there for him. “He would come and test me and push me. I wouldn’t be a subway driver if she didn’t push me.” Aleena’s own ambition was strong but slow. She had been determined since the age of five to be a lawyer, but juggling a law degree with work and family care meant it took “more than most people”, her friend Nair said. “If he didn’t pass the first time, he would come back the next semester to do it again,” he added. She had recently completed her legal internship and Naz said her niece was “the happiest she’s ever been”, having started work at the Royal Court five weeks before she was killed. Hundreds of people were expected to turn out Saturday and walk the walk they wish Aleena could make safely. Through tears, Naz said: ‘We’ll never get over it, but [the walk] will help us”.
