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Gruesome scene after transsexual killing
THE flatmate of a transsexual was found sobbing in a pool of blood after discovering her friend's body, a court heard.
Natasha Brentwood had blood smeared over her face and hands when she was found by a police officer with the semi-clad body of Robyn Browne at the flat they shared.
Leeds roofer James Hopkins, 42, of New Farnley, Leeds, is accused of murdering the pre-op transsexual and prostitute in London's West End in 1997.
Jurors at London's Old Bailey have been told Hopkins got away with the 23-year-old's murder for 10 years until he was DNA matched to a bloody palm print found on the bedroom door.
Ms Brentwood, also a transsexual, had been out for a meal when Ms Browne was killed, the court heard yesterday.
She had to climb through a window to get into the home they shared in Gosfield Street, central London, and found her friend's body lying in the bedroom in a pool of blood.
PC Susan Gill, the police officer called to the scene on February 28, 1997, spoke to a distraught Ms Brentwood when she arrived at 8.30pm.
"She was distressed and crying,'" PC Gill told the jury.
"She had lots of blood in her hands, her face and her clothes.
"I could see there was a lot of blood in the room as well as large bloodstains on the bedclothing."
Ms Browne, who was born James Brown, had suffered nine stab wounds to the chest.
Kitchen knives, which could have caused the injuries, were found in the sink and in a drawer under the hob.
A black Filofax with the A-N address section torn out was also recovered from the flat, the court heard.
The jury was told earlier that Hopkins confessed to the killing in letters to his partner Donna Abbott and young son.
He had started a new life in Leeds and told Donna in a letter from jail that the truth would send him to prison for '"a long time".
He later claimed he had been offered 500 by Yardie gangsters to steal the victim's address book because it contained the names of Robyn's celebrity clients.
A variety of men visited her at the flat including smartly dressed "business gents", the court heard.
Hopkins, of Bawn Drive, denies murder.
Proceeding
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Friday 25 May 2012
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