Addict jailed for murder of stranded tourist, 20

A young American woman was murdered after accepting shelter from a stranger when she became stranded in London in the snow, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

Alyson Kaplan, 20, a tourist, agreed to spend a night in Robert Noble's hotel room in Victoria, central London. Noble had offered to help Kaplan at Victoria coach station after she missed the coach to Bristol in January. The next day, Kaplan's body was found on the bed.

Yesterday, Noble, a 28-year-old alcohol and drug abuser of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life.

Kaplan was strangled and her belongings, including a Gucci watch, were stolen.

Noble left the Rama Hotel where he murdered Kaplan, but later confessed to the killing to police in Brighton. Police believe Noble killed Kaplan when she refused to give him her Pin number for credit cards. He had pawned her watch.

Kaplan had left her home near Los Angeles, California, 10 days earlier and was in London as part of a world tour.

She was said to be "loving, caring, compassionate and intelligent". She had flown into London that morning from Italy and was due to stay with a friend in Bristol before flying to Amsterdam, said Jonathan Rees, for the prosecution.

He said that CCTV footage had shown Noble and Kaplan walking into the hotel.

The Common Serjeant of London, Peter Beaumont, told Noble he had taken the life of a young woman "who had every expectation that her life would be happily fulfilled". He said: "She was, furthermore, a visitor to this country and entitled to feel she could travel here in safety. She was helpless in a situation that was not of her making."

The murder happened less than a month before another American, Margaret Muller, was killed as she jogged in a London park on 3 February. Ms Muller, 27, whose killer has not been found, was discovered by joggers who heard her screams in Victoria Park, Hackney.