A TEENAGER who was raped at knifepoint in Poole in 1982 studied her attacker "head to foot" so she could give police the best description.

Dawn Clark, now 51, was able to provide officers with a complete description of her rapist after consciously profiling him during her ordeal.

And she told the Daily Echo she believes "100 per cent" that he was local to Poole at the time of the attack - and probably lived in Alderney or Wallisdown.

In a police appeal released after the rape, officers said they were looking for a pale-faced man of between 25 and 30 years old, around 5ft 6in tall and of medium build.

He had fair, straight hair parted on the left and flicked over his forehead, a full blond beard and a barely-noticeable moustache.

He was also wearing square gold-rimmed spectacles, a black or dark brown waist-length jacket which seemed to be padded, black trousers and black lace-up shoes.

The rapist spoke to Dawn throughout the attack, but had no noticeable accent.

Police concentrated their search on the Alderney area.

Speaking earlier this week, Dawn said: "After he grabbed me around the neck with the carving knife [in his hand] I thought I was going to die.

"All I could think of was, I've got to do whatever it takes to survive.

"I knew I had to study his face, study his clothes, his fingernails, everything, so from head to foot I was embedding in my brain what he looked like."

The man was carrying shopping bags and smelled of alcohol, making it possible that he'd had a drink in what was then the Mountbatten Arms.

He was on foot and Dawn believes he didn't had a car nearby. The site of the rape is not well-known, but people living in the area at that time used it as a cut-through.

After the attack, the rapist walked towards St Brelades Avenue.

"100 per cent, if he doesn't live local now, he lived local then," said Dawn.

"I believe he lived Alderney West, Alderney East or Wallisdown.

"I believe it's one of the surrounding areas, or he had family, or he grew up there."

Police took DNA samples after the rape. However, no one has ever been matched to the samples.

Dawn said it's possible her attacker is dead.

"I'd feel cheated, I think," she said.

"I want him to lose everything. That's what he did to me."