Man 'raped and killed' student

Nicola's body was discovered on New Year's Day in 1997

A 17-year-old A-level student was raped and battered to death by a father-of-three who attacked her as she walked to a New Year party nearly seven years ago, a court has heard.

Warwick Crown Court was told on Tuesday how Nicola Dixon was "left in the snow to die" by Colin Ian Waite, who had repeatedly smashed her head against a kerbstone or step.

Mr Waite, 42, of Ketley Croft, Highgate, Birmingham, denies murdering Nicola, whose body was found in the grounds of a church in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, on 1 January, 1997.

The court was told that DNA evidence taken after the former chocolate factory worker's arrest last December meant there was just a one in a billion chance that anyone else could have killed Nicola.

'Complete stranger'

Timothy Raggatt QC told the jury how the student met her death after setting out from a hospital social club in Sutton Coldfield to meet friends at a pub.

"In the course of the attack upon her, the degree of violence was such that her head was - certainly several times, some would say repeatedly - smashed against a rocky kerb or a step or both and she was left dying in the snow," he said.

There is an exact match between his (Mr Waite's) DNA and that from the crime scene Timothy Raggatt QC

"In addition to being waylaid in that way she was raped.

"Nicola's attacker was, the Crown say, as far as she was concerned a complete stranger, someone whom she did not know ... and who came out of the night to rape and kill her."

Describing the murder as a terrible and dreadful crime, Mr Raggatt told a the jury that the victim was attacked after leaving Sutton Coldfield's Good Hope Hospital.

The prosecutor said that Mr Waite had lied to police during interviews, falsely claiming that he had not visited Sutton Coldfield for almost two decades, despite having been treated at Good Hope just a year before.

Mr Raggatt said DNA semen swabs had provided a match with the defendant after he was arrested in December last year.

"There is an exact match between his DNA and that from the crime scene in terms of the results obtained," Mr Raggatt told the jury.

'Normal teenager'

The court heard that Nicola's family were in Northumberland at the time of the murder, visiting relatives.

Nicola, who was studying art and photography at Sutton's Fairfax School, had remained in the West Midlands to take her driving test, which was cancelled due to the snowy weather.

Describing Nicola during his opening speech, Mr Raggatt told jurors: "She was a bright, lively, normal teenager with a wide circle of friends.

"She was hard-working and popular."

The trial, which is expected to last up to two weeks, resumes on Wednesday.