FORENSIC evidence linking a suspect to the brutal death of a Chesham barmaid 18 years ago had a one in a billion chance of belonging to someone else, a court was told.

Plasterer Anthony Ruark, 41, originally told police he did not see Jaqueline Poole, who worked at Whispers Nightclub in Station Road, Chesham, on the night of her killing in February 1983, the court heard.

But on Monday the Old Bailey heard that Ruark, of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, now accepts he had sex with Mrs Poole, 25, on the evening of her death but maintains she was fine when he left her West London home in Ruislip.

Ruark denies murder.

Mrs Poole was found dead on her lounge floor. She had been killed with a garotte, sexually assaulted and battere. Jewellery had also been taken.

A forensic expert told the court that fluids found on Mrs Poole's body matched Ruark's DNA profile. He added that the chances of it belonging to someone else are one billion to one. Samples taken from Mrs Poole's fingernails are also believed to match Ruark.

Jurors also learned the full horror of the young woman's injuries and how she desperately fought her attacker as he strangled her.

Last week the Old Bailey heard that Ruark, who lived in Uxbridge at the time, told police he was having sex sessions with Mrs Poole.

The prosecution claims Ruark attacked, molested and then strangled Mrs Poole with a curtain cord at her flat between 8.45pm and 9.15pm on February 11, 1983.

The case continues.