A RAPE victim has spoken out about her horrific ordeal as her attacker is brought to justice 33 years later.

On September 17, 1985, Yolande Jenkins, who was 18, was walking to work down Clockhouse Lane, in North Stifford, when she was forced into a farm yard at knife-point and raped by Christopher Clark.

Clark was sentenced to 13 years in prison with an extended licence of five years at Basildon Crown Court today.

Ms Jenkins, who is now known as Yolande Kennedy, has waived her right to anonymity in a bid to encourage other rape victims to come forward and to face her attacker in court.

The mother-of-two, who has since moved to Florida, said she has been serving “a life sentence” since the attack, suffering constant nightmares and always looking over her shoulder.

She said: “The guy watched me for a few days. He would sit on a wall outside of Ardale School and I didn’t think anything of it.

“One day, I was going to work and that’s when he grabbed me and took me into the farm yard and did what he wanted to do.

"When he ran away, he had left his knife, so he came running back and I thought I was going to die at that point.

“I thought ‘oh my god - he is going to slit my throat and I am going to die’.

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"But he picked up his knife and covered his face for some reason and then ran away so I ran back to Ardale.”

Ms Jenkins ran to a nearby house where she told them what had happened.

She added: “I was just a typical teenager. I had my friends and we would all hang out and then when that happened it was just like time had stood still.

“I was in complete shock.”

Her ordeal was made worse by the fact she felt Essex Police did not believe her.

She added: “I don’t feel it was investigated properly at all the first time round – I think it was just let go which was the sad thing.

“I lived with it. I had constant nightmares. You live with that mental scar. It’s just horrible and that’s something that will never go away.”

It wasn’t until she was contacted by Essex Police via local Florida detectives that she knew it was being reviewed.

She added: “I had kind of given up hope because it was so long ago and it had been so many years since and I just wondered was he still alive, still out there hurting people?

“He was always alive in my head.

“This was the first time I had any indication Essex Police were taking it forward.

“Since they called, they have been absolutely amazing.

“It reopened that scar again but they have been great.”

Ms Jenkins said she decided to waive her right to anonymity in a bid to try and get something positive out of the horrific incident.

She said: "I want to make something positive out of this now. I want to help other victims.

"If I can at least give them some hope that they can trust the police and talk to somebody and I want to do something to help them. It’s very difficult.

"There’s a lot of women out there who have been too scared to come forward, who are not believed or they don’t trust who they are talking to because they think they’re going to think they’re making it up and there are women who have not made it out alive so I want to be a voice for them as well.

"I want to make a positive out of it and if I can help others who have gone through it then it’s a good thing."