A homeless man strangled a teenage girl with her own scarf and hid her body in his suitcase, a retrial has heard.

Former removal man Philip Bell killed 17-year-old Terry Edmonds in a car park stairwell in Tunbridge Wells where he slept rough, it was alleged.

Anthony Haycroft, prosecuting, said Bell later moved the body. It was found 12 days later, fully clothed, in the foetal position in the suitcase.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Bell and Miss Edmonds were on a "collision course" the day she died on Easter Bank Holiday, April 17 2006.

They were seen on CCTV at the town’s railway station within two seconds of each other and were bound to meet at the car park, said Mr Haycroft.

"When she was murdered she was sexually assaulted," he told the jury of seven women and five men. "She was strangled and she was smothered with her own scarf."

Using computer images and CCTV film to show Morrison’s car park next to the station and surrounding area, the prosecutor said the evidence against Bell, 23, was circumstantial.

"The case is proved by surrounding evidence," he said. "The evidence here is very strong. It shows Philip Bell murdered Terry Edmonds on Easter Monday between 6.30pm and 7.30pm.

"We will call that hour the lost hour, because it is the hour Mr Bell cannot properly account for. It is the hour he lied about to the police."

Mr Haycroft said after Bell was caught out lying about his whereabouts in the hour he eventually admitted he was in stairwell four, where he slept and Miss Edmonds was killed.

The victim lived in nearby Calverley Hill hostel for vulnerable young women. She was due to meet her boyfriend, Nigel Fitzgerald, in the early evening.

She had been to Tonbridge by train in the afternoon to see a friend.

At 6.23pm, Bell was returning to the car park. After getting off the train, Miss Edmonds was two seconds behind him, on her way to the hostel.

"They were bound to meet, is what the prosecution say," said Mr Haycroft. "She never made it to the hostel because she went to the bottom of stairwell four."

Bell, of no fixed home, denies murder.

The trial continues.