'Early bird rapist': Christopher Clark jailed for 1985 attack after DNA match
Fighting back tears, Clark's victim told him: "You made me feel like I was nobody, somebody that is to be used and abused."
Monday 3 September 2018 22:25, UK
A serial sex attacker has been jailed for raping a teenage girl at knifepoint in 1985 after a DNA match linked him to the crime last year.
Christopher Clark, 68, who became known as the early bird rapist because he targeted young women in the early hours of the morning, was sentenced to 13 years in custody and five on extended licence for attacking the girl after pleading guilty last month.
His victim, Yolande Kennedy, who waived her right to anonymity, told Basildon Crown Court she attempted suicide, struggled to trust men and quit the job she loved after the attack.
Fighting back tears, she told Clark: "You made me feel like I was nobody, somebody that is to be used and abused.
"You obviously think you're powerful, but in reality you're nothing, a nobody, a sad old man who hopefully will feel pain for what you have done," she said.
"I became like a broken vase - you can piece it back together but it won't be the same as it once was...nothing would make me happier than knowing you will never get the chance to hurt anyone again," she added.
Clark was already serving a life sentence for a different sexual offence when Essex Police's cold case unit made the forensic match last year.
He targeted the victim, who was 18 at the time, as she walked to work at about 6.15am in North Stifford, Essex, in September 1985.
Holding a knife to her throat, Clark dragged her into a farmyard, telling her he did not want to hurt her and wanted to "make love" to her before carrying out the assault, prosecutor Louise Oakley told the court.
DNA evidence was gathered at the time but no suspect was found.
Clark received a life sentence in 1997 for a sexual offence in Bristol.
He has convictions for a further string of offences including rape, indecent assault on a child under 14 and burglary with intent to rape, the court heard.
Judith Reed, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The trauma of this attack has remained with the victim throughout her life."
Michael Newport, for Clark, said the defendant claimed to have no memory of the incident.
Recorder Claire Davies said he showed "no remorse at all".