Uncle to be sentenced over Sydney murder

A former IT worker who has admitted indecently assaulting and murdering his niece before dumping her body in a NSW blowhole last year will face a sentencing hearing next month.

Derek Barrett, 28, pleaded guilty in August to the stabbing murder of Chinese university student Mengmei Leng, 25, whose naked body was discovered floating face down inside the blowhole at Snapper Point on the NSW Central Coast in April 2016.

He also pleaded guilty to taking or detaining a person with the intent to obtain advantage and three counts of committing an act of indecency with a person aged over 16 years.

Barrett appeared via audio-visual link in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday where Justice Peter Johnson set down a sentencing hearing in Sydney on November 24.

Ms Leng had lived with Barrett and her aunt, 48, in the southwest Sydney suburb of Campsie after arriving in Australia to study five years before her murder.

Police allege Leng was stabbed more than 40 times at Campsie while her aunt was away for the weekend.

The student was seen catching the train home on the Thursday and was in contact with friends until late that night, before her phone and social media accounts fell silent.

Three days later, a tourist discovered her body in water at the blowhole, which is more than 100 kilometres north of Campsie.