A 66-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering two women in Kent more than 30 years ago.

Cold case detectives held the suspect, from Heathfield, East Sussex, on Thursday over the deaths of Wendy Knell, 25, and 20-year-old Caroline Pierce, who were both from Tunbridge Wells, in 1987.

Shop manager Ms Knell, 25, was found sexually assaulted and beaten to death in her bedsit in Guildford Road in the town on June 23, after failing to turn up for work.

The Argus: Murder victim Wendy KnellMurder victim Wendy Knell

The second victim was killed five months later after being attacked outside her home in Grosvenor Park.

Ms Pierce was last seen at about midnight on November 24 1987, when she was dropped off by a taxi at her home.

Screams were heard outside the house and her body was found by a farm worker in a drainage ditch 40 miles away on Romney Marsh on December 15 that year.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "The case has remained unsolved and subject to periodic reviews by cold case detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

"Families of both victims have been informed of the arrest and are being kept updated."

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