A HARROWING interview with a teenage rape victim from Poole has been aired on national television in a bid to catch her attacker.

 

Dawn Clark was brutally attacked at the age of just 15 in 1982.

 

Now, 35 years later, Dorset Police have renewed an appeal in a bid to catch the rapist.

 

And Dawn, who has waived her life-long right to anonymity, appeared in the BBC Crimewatch Roadshow yesterday.

 

Now a grandmother-of-two, Dawn told how she is haunted by the attack, which took place as she walked alone in the east Alderney area of Poole on May 3 1982.

 

 

The officer leading the investigation believes someone knows the identity of the suspect and he is urging anyone who recognises the man to contact police or the anonymous Crimestoppers number.

 

At around 8.45pm on the day of the offence, which was the early May bank holiday, Dawn left her friend’s home in Northmere Drive to walk home with another friend.

 

Dawn and her friend parted company at a footpath in St Brelades Avenue, which leads to a piece of common land and the subway under Ringwood Road. As she reached the common, Dawn saw a man she did not recognise.

 

Dawn said: “He asked me if I knew what time the Yellow Bus was due and what the time was. I told him it was 9.20pm.

 

“I carried on walking and then all of a sudden he was behind me. He put his arm around my neck and had a knife in his hand holding it against my throat.

 

“He took me into the wooded area that was there and on the way through he picked up a couple of carrier bags and told me if I wanted to live I had to be quiet and do what he was telling me to do.

 

“He carried on walking to the area where he physically attacked me.”

 

The man, who would now be a pensioner, is described as white, aged between 25 and 30 years old, five feet six inches tall, of medium build and with a pale complexion. He had straight sandy-coloured hair which was parted on the left with a flick of hair across his forehead, and a full bristly blond beard with small moustache that was barely noticeable.

 

He wore square gold-rimmed glasses, black trousers of a heavy material and black lace-up shoes. He also had a dark brown or black jacket which was waist-length, padded with a smooth material, sleeves with elasticated robbed cuffs and a front fastening with poppers and a small fold down collar and red checked lining.

 

Dawn continued: “I feel like I am stuck in a rut all the time. I just feel like he has turned my world upside down. He’s changed my life.

 

“I need justice. I need him to hand himself in or to be caught. Someone must know him.”

 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 

Dorset Rape Crisis Support Centre has urged anyone who has suffered sexual violence to contact them on 01202 308840.