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Man killed tourist for kicks
By Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent, Evening Standard
23 April 2003

A man who throttled the daughter of a wealthy American financier because he wanted to know how it felt to kill someone was jailed for life today.

Tourist Alyson Kaplan, 20, became stranded in London by the snow storms on 31 January this year. Robert Noble, 28, met her wandering around Victoria bus station and offered her his room at the nearby Rama Hotel.

The father-of-two smothered her with a pillow before choking her with a scarf.

He robbed the student of £70 and her £630 Gucci watch before leaving her naked body in his bed.

Miss Kaplan, the daughter of a wealthy financial investor in Los Angeles, California, had only arrived in London the day before and had planned to meet an English friend before touring Europe.

But the bad weather suspended coaches and trains leaving the capital and Miss Kaplan was forced to stay.

Soon after the murder, Noble, originally from Gretna, Scotland, telephoned a cousin to say he had killed the young woman in "a cruel and nasty way".

Within hours he confessed the murder to Brighton police. "I'm guilty as charged," he said. He told detectives he had "thought about what it would be like to kill someone, adding that everybody had the same thoughts at some stage", said Jonathan Rees, prosecuting at the Old Bailey.

Noble, who had no psychiatric problems, today pleaded guilty to murder. Passing the mandatory life sentence, the Common Serjeant of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, said: "You took a life in circumstances of violence. The life of a young woman who had every expectation that life would be happily fulfilled.

"She was, furthermore, a visitor to this country and entitled to believe she could travel here in safety.

"She was helpless in a situation that wasn't her making. Her loss has left a family shattered. For that the law permits but one sentence."

Noble, who stayed the night in the hotel room with the corpse, told detectives he emptied her bags and took her Gucci watch which he later pawned for £10. He also took £70 and her cash card.

Miss Kaplan's naked body was found beneath the duvet by cleaners the following morning.

The hotel's CCTV cameras caught Noble leaving the building at 8am that day.

Miss Kaplan's younger sister, Tara, said in an impact statement read to the court: "Not only have I lost my best friend and guardian angel but also my personal mentor."

Her father said the killing had had a "profound and traumatic effect" on the family, adding: "I cannot put into words the enormous impact that has been put on our lives."