A MAN has denied murdering two women more than thirty years ago.

David Fuller, from Heathfield, was arrested on December 3 last year.

He was charged two days later with the murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, who were found dead just months apart in 1987.

The 66-year-old appeared before Maidstone Crown Court today on a video link from Lewes Prison, and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.

Shop manager Ms Knell, 25, was found sexually assaulted and beaten to death in her bedsit in Guildford Road, Tunbridge Wells, on June 23, 1987, after failing to turn up for work.

The second victim was killed five months later.

Ms Pierce was last seen at about midnight on November 24, 1987, when she was dropped off by a taxi at her home in Grosvenor Park after a night out with friends.

Her naked body was later found by a farm worker in a drainage ditch, 40 miles away on Romney Marsh on December 15 that year.

The killings, which became known as as the Bedsit murders, are two of Britain's longest unsolved murder cases.

Mr Fuller was remanded in custody.

His trial, which was due to start in July, has been delayed until October 25 due to challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.