A man arranged to meet a sex worker two days before he allegedly killed a prostitute, a jury was told.

Neil McMillan, 42, is on trial at Lewes Crown Court accused of murdering Andrea Waddell at her home in Brighton on October 15 last year.

Miss Waddell, 29, was found strangled at her flat in Upper Lewes Road.

The killer had set the one-bedroom flat alight before fleeing.

Escort Megan Vaux told the jury she had arranged to meet McMillan days before the murder but she failed to keep the appointment.

Miss Vaux said McMillan had made contact with her about a month earlier through a website where she advertised her services.

Miss Vaux, who uses the name Susie B for work, said they met and there had been sexual activity.

She said he later tried to arrange to meet to celebrate his birthday. He asked her to meet for a drink at the Tin Drum, in St James’s Street, and then go to his home in Bennett Road, Brighton, where he was a lodger.

She said she arranged to be paid £150 but after she failed to turn up McMillan texted her and offered to double the fee.

She said: “When he rang he doubled it. He said he would pay me a grand to put down a deposit for a flat because I was in council accommodation.”

But she did not make the appointment.

Miss Vaux said she had met Miss Waddell in the past but they were not close friends.

She said she was unaware Miss Waddell, who gained a Masters degree in social and political thought at Sussex University, was born male and had undergone gender reassignment surgery in 2004.

Miss Vaux said they first met at Kittens, an escort agency in Montpelier Road, where Miss Waddell worked under the name Fushia.

Miss Vaux said: “She kept herself to herself. She was very quiet.

“We were not really friends. I didn’t realise she was transgender.”

She said she had met Miss Waddell on a number of occasions to discuss work and they had both had jobs as models.

The court was told McMillan, a TV satellite installer, has admitted he had sex with Miss Waddell on the night she was killed but claims he left her flat because someone else arrived, who he did not see.

The trial continues.