Brother’s warning to murdered prostitute Destiny Lauren over ‘risks’ of her job

Published: 22 July, 2010
by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

A PRE-OPERATIVE transsexual woman working as a prostitute was murdered by a customer, a court heard yesterday (Wednesday).

Prosecutors at Snaresbrook Crown Court said Leon Fyle was found with Destiny Lauren’s belongings after she had died “most probably [from] strangulation”.

Mr Fyle is accused of travelling from Kent to Ms Lauren’s home in Leighton Crescent, Kentish Town, and killing the 29 year-old there.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny said: “The Crown’s case is that it was this defendant, Leon Fyle, who telephoned Destiny Lauren on the evening of November 4 2009; that it was he who travelled across London to visit her; that it was he who went to her premises for the purposes of a sexual encounter; [and] that it was he who killed her there by compressing her neck, most probably strangulation.”

The court heard that Mr Fyle, 22, had used pre-operative transsexual prostitutes in the past. After killing Ms Lauren, Mr Penny said that Mr Fyle had then got on a bus to King’s Cross and had “spent £250 having sexual intercourse with two female prostitutes”. 

Ms Lauren was found by her brother Lyndon Samuels but was later declared dead at the Royal Free Hospital.

In a filmed police interview, presented to the court, Mr Samuels said he had warned Ms Lauren her job was risky. 

In his opening argument to the jury, Mr Penny said Mr Fyle’s phone records and CCTV proved he was Ms Lauren’s last customer. Images from a 214 bus, he added, showed the defendant’s movements.

Ms Lauren changed her name from Justin Samuels and began living as a woman when she was 17. She had breast implants.

In the filmed interview, recorded at the time of her death, Mr Samuels said: “I saw Destiny lying on the bed. She was naked. She had something on her arm. I phoned my brother and I phoned the ambulance. 

“I wish I ran outside to see who done it but the man on the [phone] was saying lie her on the floor, see if she’s still breathing.” 

Mr Samuels had been waiting in the street outside while Ms Lauren worked, Mr Penny said, and described the man he saw entering her flat as having a “bad looking face”.  

Mr Penny added: “By the time [Mr Fyle] was getting back on the bus at a quarter to one, he had murdered her and was carrying items of her property, including jewellery and a mobile telephone.”

The trial continues.