Man 'murdered girl in lost hour'

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A homeless man sexually assaulted and then strangled a teenage girl during a "lost hour" that he cannot properly account for, jurors have been told.

The jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told that Philip Bell, 23, who denies murder, hid the body of Terry Edmonds, 17, in a suitcase in Tunbridge Wells.

Ms Edmonds, of Hadlow, Kent, was last seen after she got off a train in April 2006. Her body was found 12 days later.

Jurors were sworn in on Tuesday and were told the case was a retrial.

Prosecuting, Anthony Haycroft said the evidence showed that Mr Bell carried out the murder on Easter Monday between 1830 and 1930 GMT.

"We will call that hour the 'lost hour'," he said.

"It is the hour that Philip Bell cannot properly account for. It is the hour that he lied about to police."

The court heard Ms Edmonds travelled from her Tunbridge Wells hostel to Tonbridge that day, to meet a friend for lunch. We say that this explanation that he was 10ft away while Terry was being killed and knew nothing about it beggars belief Anthony Haycroft

Just before 1730 GMT, she spoke to her boyfriend to arrange to meet him in Tunbridge Wells that evening, the jury was told.

But Mr Haycroft said she came out of the back of Tunbridge Wells railway station at 1823 GMT and, two seconds later, Mr Bell walked down a path near the station to a supermarket car park where he slept rough in a stairwell.

The pair were on a "collision course", he said.

Jurors heard that Mr Bell, of no fixed address, initially told police he was not in the car park that hour, and later said he was smoking cannabis on a stairwell landing.

Mr Haycroft said: "We say that this explanation that he was 10ft away while Terry was being killed and knew nothing about it beggars belief.

"We respectfully say that it is simply ridiculous.

"What Mr Bell is correct about is that he did not see any attacker.

"Of course he did not - because he is the attacker."

The trial continues.