A man has gone on trial for raping a young woman - 25 years ago.

Martin Eke is alleged to have carried out the attack on wasteland in Folkestone in October 1986.

Jacqueline Spriddell was 21 at the time of the alleged assault, but . However, has since diedher police statement will be read to the jury at Canterbury Crown Court.

Eke (pictured left. Picture: Mike Gunnill) of Douglas Road, Tonbridge, has pleaded not guilty.

He was arrested last year after cold case detectives reviewed the unsolved case.

Andrew Collings, prosecuting, told the jury new forensic tests - not available 25 years ago - had matched DNA samples to Eke.

He told how Miss Spriddell had been out with friends in a pub watching a band in October 1986.

She left with two friends just after 11pm, but decided to walk back to her home in Shornecliffe Road.

"She was a slight girl and she didn't drink very much. She had a sunny disposition."

Mr Collings added she had suffered from kidney problems and had received a transplant.

"But despite that she would just get on with life as best she could," he added.
In a police statement, Miss Spriddell told how she saw a man in front of her in Beachborough Road who disappeared near a railway bridge.

Minutes later, she saw him standing near bushes and assumed he was urinating, the court heard.

But Mr Collings alleged Eke then grabbed her in a bear hug and put his hand over her mouth - telling her: "It's alright I only want your handbag."

The prosecutor claimed Eke said he wanted £20 - but when he only found £5, demanded a kiss.

"She decided to try and distract him and told him if he carried on she was going to scream.

"He told her if she did, he would beat her to a pulp and pushed her back onto the ground," the prosecutor claimed.

"she was a slight girl and she didn't drink very much. she had a sunny disposition…” – andrew collings, prosecuting

Eke was then alleged to have given her an ultimatum - oral or full sex.

But the prosecutor said he dragged his frightened victim further onto the land and raped her.

Miss Spriddell then went home and told her parents of the attack and the police were alerted.

Later, a photofit of her attacker appeared in Folkestone newspapers - but noone was arrested.

Mr Collings said the case remain unsolved and Miss Spriddell died from renal failure in November 2000.

The prosecutor said in the intervening years, forensic science had made a "quantum leap" and in 2010 the case was reviewed and Eke arrested.

He told police officers he had been in lodgings in Folkestone in 1986 andhad met a woman on the way home.

Eke claimed the two agreed to have consensual sex but the woman became upset when he admitted afterwards he was married.

He said he saw the photofit and recognised himself - but did not talk to police because he did not want his wife to discover he had been unfaithful.

The case continues.