Kasim Lewis, who was on the sex offender register, admitted killing Iuliana Tudos in Finsbury Park

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 29 years at the after he admitted killing a bartender in a park as she made her way home at Christmas.

Kasim Lewis, 31, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to murdering 22-year-old Iuliana Tudos in Finsbury Park, north London.

Tudos, known as Julie, was accosted in the park as she walked home last Christmas Eve.

Her naked body was found in a derelict hut in the park near her home three days later.

The victim, of Russian and Greek origin, had been slashed with a broken bottle in the neck, abdomen and wrists.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Court artist sketch of Kasim Lewis. Photograph: Elizabeth Cook/PA

Members of Tudos’s family attended the hearing in front of Judge Richard Marks QC.

Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said it was a sustained and brutal attack. He said: “Iuliana was struck over the head, most likely with a bottle. She was also stabbed with a broken bottle in the neck, on her abdomen and on her wrists.

“Although there is no evidence that Iuliana was actually sexually assaulted, the prosecution allege that this was a sexually motivated and sadistic attack.”

During the attack, Lewis extracted her pin number and later withdrew cash from her account.

Lewis, who was born in Montserrat and lived in north London, had previously been jailed for an earlier sex attack.

In September 2005, he was sentenced to two years for sexual assault and exposure on a bus and placed on the sex offender register. In 2011, he received a further eight months in jail for failing to comply with the sex offender notification requirements and a community order.

The court heard Tudos was born in Moldova and worked in the World’s End pub in Camden High Street. Aylett said she was “well-known and much-liked” and was described as a selfless and helpful person.

She had finished her shift at the pub and was planning to spend Christmas with friends after going home to collect her things. She was picked up on CCTV at 8.33pm heading towards the entrance of Finsbury Park.

When she failed to turn up, her friends posted messages on social media, contacted the pub, hospitals and distributed flyers. A group of friends searched Finsbury Park and found the body in a burnt-out shed, the court heard.