A man accused of the stranger rape of a Folkestone woman 25 years ago broke down in tears in the witness box today as he told a jury: "I have never raped anyone in my life."

Martin Eke, 46, of Douglas Road, Tonbridge said he "felt sick" realising he was being hunted for the alleged attack on Jacqui Spriddell in 1986.

The married man - who was working in Folkestone at the time - claimed the two had consensual sex near the rail station.

But the following day he saw the area being cordoned off - and photofits of a man wanted by police appeared around the town.

Eke (pictured left. Picture: Mike Gunnill) told jurors: "I saw them and I said: 'That's me'."

Eke, who denies the charge, said he could not go to the police because he was under investigation at work for theft and false accounting.

In 1987 he appeared at Folkestone Magistrates' Court where he admitted the theft and false accounting charges, the jury was told.

Eke - dressed in a dark suit - said he did not feel "that the police would be my best friends".

"When I saw the photofit I felt sick," he said. "I couldn't understand what had happened was now being called a rape.

"I just saw the whole of my life unravelling in front of me."

The scene of the alleged attack in Folkestone

Eke told the jury he met Ms Spriddell after returning from Ashford and she began a "flirtatious" conversation, which led to sex on wasteland.

He said afterwards he reacted coldly towards her because of his guilt that he was a newly-married man.

Jacqui, who died from renal failure in November 2000, had claimed she was grabbed by a stranger as she walked home.

A statement made by her at the time was read to the jury.

She said: "He (the man) grabbed me in a type of bear hug with one of his hands over my mouth.

"I began to struggle and he said: 'It's alright I only want your handbag'. He then pulled me onto the wasteground.

"he grabbed me in a type of bear hug with one of his hands over my mouth…” – jacqui spriddell

"He took my handbag... took out my purse and looked into it and said: 'Is this all there is?'

"I said there was a fiver in another part of the purse and he said: 'That's not enough. I want at least twenty quid.'"

Jacqui then threatened to scream after he demanded a kiss - and he threatened to "beat me to a pulp".

In 2005, Eke was arrested on a charge of common assault and later received a police caution.

But during the investigation officers took a sample of his DNA - which forensic scientists later matched to evidence taken during the alleged rape, the court heard.

The jury is expected to consider its verdict later this week.