The trial of a man accused of the body-in-the-suitcase murder of teenager Terry Edmonds is due to start today at Maidstone Crown Court.

A jury panel was selected yesterday and sent away ovenight.

Homeless Philip Bell, 23, denies murdering the 17-year-old, whose body was found hidden in a suitcase at a disused car park next to Tunbridge Wells railway station.

She has been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Miss Edmonds, who lived at a nearby hostel, had gone missing 12 days earlier on Bank Holiday Monday, April 17 2006.

Bell has twice been tried for her murder and both times the juries have not been able to reach a verdict.