‘There isn’t a lot of room in my heart for many, but there was for Destiny Lauren’

Published: 12 August, 2010
by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

FRIENDS have paid tribute to a woman who worked as a prostitute found dead in her Kentish Town home after her killer was found guilty of murder.

Destiny Lauren, 29, was killed in November by Leon Fyle, a man who had called on her for sex.

After he was convicted at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, friends of Ms Lauren – a pre-operative transsexual – told how she had lit up London’s gay and transgender scene, despite a lifetime of personal tragedy.

Fyle had admitted meeting the 29-year-old and stealing her handbag after a massage and oral sex, but in a 10-2 majority verdict, the jury rejected his account that she was still alive and well when he left her flat in Leighton Crescent.

After killing her, Fyle, from Lewisham, headed to a brothel in King’s Cross and had sex with two more prostitutes. 

He will be sentenced next month.

Ms Lauren’s friends said she had gone through tough times but had come out smiling. 

Her uncle, Paul Hill, was one of the Guildford Four, wrongly jailed for 15 years for pub bombings they didn’t commit. She had been living as a woman since she was 17 and was well known in transsexual and transvestite circles. 

Never a drug addict, those close to her said she worked as a prostitute because it paid well and was always very careful about vetting her clients. 

They described her love of the outdoors and walking – she never took buses or Tubes – and said it was matched only by her love of clothes and handbags.  

Jason McNamara, who went on holiday to Texas with her seven years ago, said: “There isn’t a lot of room in my heart for many people but there was for her. She was likeable, she wasn’t bitchy, she was just natural, just herself.”

Candice Louise Rowland, who met her on the transsexual scene around 10 years ago, said they used to go for picnics on Hampstead Heath’s Kenwood together.

She said: “She was a lovely person who was so funny. The gay scene is not the same without her. It’s a big shame and I’ll really miss her.”

Detectives described her murder as a “brutal and callous act” by a stranger who turned up at her home intending to kill her. 

They said he has never shown any remorse. 

Detective Inspector Liz Baker described Ms Lauren as a Kentish Town “character” with close ties to her family who had a lot to live for.

She said: “Destiny had a troubled history and had suffered depression following the death of her mother but was trying to turn her life around. 

“She was well known to many people in the Camden area and was regarded as a ‘character’ by those who knew her. 

“She was close to her father and two brothers, who she contacted regularly, and she had a love for the finer things in life and appreciated beautiful things.”

It emerged during the trial that Fyle was a troubled young man who spent his childhood in care homes and on the streets in gangs. His first conviction for robbery was at the age of 12 – by 16 he had stabbed a man in the chest and left him for dead in a south London alleyway.

DI Baker said: “The murder of Destiny Lauren was brutal and premeditated. Her life was abruptly ended when she met Leon Fyle, a young man she had never met before, who murdered and robbed her in her own home. She was found dead by her brother. 

“Fyle has not shown one shred of remorse for this callous act nor for the suffering he has inflicted on Destiny’s family and friends.”