A judge refused to shorten the sentence of a man convicted for the second time of murdering a Kentish Town transsexual - saying the killer showed no “hint of remorse”.

Leon Fyle, 23, was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2010 for the murder of 29-year-old Destiny Lauren.

The pre-operative transsexual was found strangled in her flat in Leighton Crescent, Kentish Town, in November 2009.

The Court of Appeal quashed Fyle’s first conviction but he was found guilty of the killing again last week.

After a four-week retrial Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith upheld the original 21-year sentence at Southwark Crown Court on Friday (September 23).

He said: “The reduction would be a small one in the circumstances and secondly I have had the opportunity to watch you throughout this trial to assess the effect this trial has had upon you and to decide whether it has caused you any hardship.

“I have concluded that the sentence imposed last year was the correct one.

“There has never been a hint of remorse for what you did.”

The court heard how Fyle strangled Ms Lauren, a pre-operative transsexual sex worker who was born as Justin Samuels, at her flat after having sex with her.

Judge Loraine-Smith said he had been struck by Fyle’s “calmness” as he sought out her jewellery, mobile phone, and �350 in cash, as Ms Lauren lay dead or dying.

Ms Lauren’s brother Lyndon Samuels found her two hours later half-naked on her bed, with her hands tied behind her back with stockings.

She was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, but was pronounced dead before arriving.

Fyle, originally of Catford in South London, took a bus to King’s Cross where he visited a brothel and spent �250 of the cash he had stolen on sex workers.

Michael Holland QC, defending, said Fyle was a “deeply damaged” young man.

Fyle had previously claimed he was abused as a young boy before flitting between foster homes and sleeping rough.

Mr Holland told the court: “He is a young man who wears a face and has to because of the way he has grown up.

“That does not excuse the murder, but it is part of the background which has led to him being the man he is.”

Judge Loraine-Smith said the 21-year sentence would be backdated to the date of Fyle’s initial conviction in September 2010.