A teenager has pleaded guilty to raping and murdering 18-year-old Megan Newton.
Megan Newton was found strangled and stabbed at her bedsit in Fletcher Road in Stoke-on-Trent on April 20 last year.
Joseph Trevor, 19, has admitted murder and two counts of rape today at Stafford Crown Court.
It has emerged he was in Megan's home after she offered him a place to sleep as an "act of kindness".
Her body was found by a member of staff at an Arch-run housing complex on Fletcher Road, Stoke, where she was staying at the time.
Today was meant to be the first day of Trevor's trial, but he instead pleaded guilty to murder and two charges of rape.
Trevor, formerly of Danebower Road, Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, appeared in court today wearing a black suit and dark-framed glasses, and sat in the dock just yards from Miss Newton's family.
Opening the Crown's case, Adrian Keeling QC said: "This defendant raped and then murdered Megan Newton in the early hours of Saturday April 20 last year.
"He did so at her flat.
"She had invited him back as an act of kindness, because he got so drunk on drink and drugs he could not face going home to his parents.
"He raped her, strangled her unconscious and then stabbed her in the back eight times."
He added: "She was 18 years old."
Mr Trevor has been in custody since last year after being arrested at his parents' home.
The hearing continues.
