Sex fiend Paul Dyne today admitted raping a teen 24 years after it happened.

The 45-year-old was caught when officers from Kent Police’s Cold Case Investigation Team uncovered new DNA evidence against him.

Dyne attacked the 18-year-old girl in Deal in February 1986 after spotting her going to buy milk at a local shop.

The beast passed his victim as she walked along College Road, before covering her mouth and dragging her to waste ground in Ark Lane.

Dyne threatened the girl and told her he had a knife, before covering her eyes with a scarf and raping her.

The former factory worker then left his victim on the waste ground before making his escape.

Distraught from her horrific ordeal, the girl made her way home where her dad called police.

Officers investigated the incident but the trail went cold.

Twenty-four years later a series of breakthroughs in forensic science enabled DNA taken at the time of the incident to be matched to Dyne.

The rapist was arrested at his new home in Kingston Road, New Malden. He was charged in December last year.

Police found the suspect had lived with his family in College Road at the time and had also been working at a factory next to the waste ground.

He appeared at Maidstone Crown Court today and is due to be sentenced on June 10.

DCI Dave Withers said: "In 1986 a young woman’s life was changed dramatically by this horrific unprovoked attack.

"Twenty-four years have passed since then and she has lived with this every day.

"We hope today with the conviction of Dyne for this terrible crime she is now able in some way to move on with her life."

Forensic Science Service Specialist Andy Douglas said: "Advances in DNA allow the service to revisit unsolved cases and look for opportunities to apply new techniques to old cases.

"It demonstrates how far science has brought us in the last 20 years.

"It has allowed the Forensic Science Service to support Kent Police in bringing an offender to justice."