Transsexual's murderer gets life

Robyn Browne was just 23 when she was murdered in central London

A man who murdered a transsexual prostitute almost 12 years ago has been sentenced to life in jail with no chance of release for 17 years.

James Hopkins, 42, from Leeds, was traced in 2007 using evidence linking him to palm prints left at the scene of the February 1997 killing in London.

The victim, Robyn Browne, was a 23-year-old pre-operative transsexual.

Hopkins had admitted going to Ms Browne's flat to steal an address book, but denied her murder.

Judge Errol Browne said there is no doubt of Hopkins' guilt.

Hopkins was living and working in Leeds when police traced him

"You repeatedly plunged the knife into her chest and neck. You disposed of her with cruel brutality," he told the Old Bailey.

Ms Browne, who lived as a woman, was found with nine stab wounds to the chest and neck in a flat in Marylebone, central London.

The sentencing of Hopkins, of Bawn Drive, Farnley in Leeds, gives the victim's family some closure.

Ms Browne's sister, Louise, said in a statement: "Now there can be some sort of closure. Her death impacts on those who knew her."

Police credited advances in DNA evidence with providing them with a breakthrough in the cold case.

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