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Girl 'appeared to be on blind date'

Rachel Borrill
Friday 03 July 1992 23:02 BST
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A TAXI driver who saw a teenager hours before she was strangled thought she was waiting for a blind date, Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex was told yesterday.

Lynne Rogers, 17, who was lured to a bogus job interview before being killed, was seen by Thomas Reynolds, of New Eltham, south London, at Charing Cross station, central London, on 4 September 1991. 'She looked very nervous. . . she looked worried. I actually thought she must be on a blind date,' he said.

Scott Singleton, 36, of Broadfield, Crawley, West Sussex, denies murdering Miss Rogers, of Catford, south-east London, between 4 and 7 September. She was killed after she arranged to meet a man at the station, who had offered her a job stewarding executive flights with a salary of pounds 14,000.

Five days later, Miss Rogers' body was discovered in brambles off a country lane in Rotherfield, East Sussex. She had not been sexually assaulted.

Mr Reynolds said that he saw Miss Rogers getting into a blue Vauxhall Carlton. The prosecution alleges that this was Mr Singleton's car. Mr Reynolds added that the male driver was small and had smiled at Miss Rogers. 'At that point I decided it couldn't be a blind date, because he looked far too old for her,' he added.

On 1 October last year, Mr Reynolds attended an identity parade at Crawley police station, but he failed to pick out Mr Singleton. 'I told the police that I would probably be able to pick him out if he was in a row of people who looked completely different,' he said.

Michael Mansfield QC, for the defence, asked him if he had ever met Mr Singleton and had an 'altercation' with him over a car. Mr Reynolds denied this, saying: 'It is almost like a fairy story.'

The prosecution alleges that Mr Singleton stole Miss Rogers' CV from a communal postal room at the Greenwich Business Centre.

Garfield Roye, Mr Singleton's business partner, said that more than 100 people knew the post room's access number, and that Mr Singleton had complained that post was going missing.

The trial continues on Monday.

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