A man who raped and murdered a mother-of-one in her Belfast home has lost his appeal against being ordered to serve a minimum 22 years in jail.
Judges ruled that the sentence imposed on Nigerian immigrant Kristoff Emmanuel Alauya, 24, for the "truly heinous" killing of Grace Moore was neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive.
Alauya, who lived in Co Carlow in the Irish Republic, stabbed, strangled and raped Ms Moore in November 2006, leaving the 38-year-old's body to be discovered by her teenage daughter.
The killer had travelled to Belfast days before meeting his victim in a city centre nightclub and returning to her flat in the Suffolk area.
After murdering Ms Moore he ransacked her home, stealing electrical items and cheque books. He then flagged down a taxi and went to a garage to buy food.
Alauya's lawyers accepted that the trial judge was entitled to conclude that he had shown no evidence of remorse.
Yet they claimed the jail term handed down was too heavy.
'Vulnerable and alone'
The Court of Appeal was told he should have received more credit for pleading guilty, and that there was no evidence his attack was premeditated.
However, Lord Justice Higgins, sitting with the Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, dismissed the application after setting out the aggravating features in the case.
He made clear how Ms Moore vulnerable, alone, and no match for the greater physical strength and dominance of Alauya.
Lord Justice Higgins also pointed to Alauya's history of violence and how he fled the Irish Republic, spurning an opportunity to deal with his drug habit.
He said: "We do not consider that the minimum term fixed by the learned trial judge was either wrong in principle or manifestly excessive and the application for leave to appeal is dismissed."
© UTV News