A  MAN has  gone on  trial accused of raping a New Zealand tourist in a London alleyway 18 years ago.

Christopher Coutanche, 43, told police the woman must have been one of his long-forgotten consensual conquests.

But the woman, known only as Miss B, told London's Blackfriars Crown Court Coutanche forced her down an alleyway to engage in humiliating sex acts, threatening to break her neck if she disobeyed.

She said he raped her before getting dressed and walking off as if nothing had happened.

All efforts to find her attacker failed, but police were able to take a fluid sample containing DNA evidence.

Nearly two decades on, that DNA sample produced a one-ina-billion match with Coutanche.

Coutanche, of Edinburgh Road, Garden Village, denies one count of rape and two of indecent assault in October 1988.

The woman told the court a holiday offer to play the good Samaritan ended in a terrifying rape ordeal.

The New Zealander said that, although Christopher Coutanche was  a stranger,  his late-night request for help in dealing with drunken friends appeared genuine and his 'laughter and chatter' as he led her by the hand to a block of flats made her trust him even more.

Miss B told the court that, hours before her alleged ordeal, she had returned from Holland and spent the evening with friends before setting off home.

She missed the last tube and ended up in Hammer-smith looking for a night bus.

'I felt comfortable with him, I didn't feel threatened or in any danger,' she told the court. I was enjoying talking to him. I trusted him.'

But  she  said,  seconds  after leading her to a deserted balcony at the end of a dark, 'dead end' alleyway, he attacked her.

'Then he raped me,' she said. 'I was  scared, crying,  absolutely hysterical.'

The woman, 21 at the time, said her  repeated pleas for mercy went unheeded.

She said her 'painful' ordeal ended as her alleged tormentor climbed to his feet 'as if nothing had happened' and got dressed.

'I was panicking, trying to find the way  out,' said Miss  B. I checked to see if he was following me. He was staring at me and said 'can't I see you again?' I said 'no.'

She told jurors that, still crying hysterically, she tried to phone police  from  a call  box,  but without success. Finally, she got directions from a cab driver and walked to the nearest station.

Johannah  Cutts, prosecuting, said, although the woman's alleged ordeal did not result in an early arrest, police made sure matters were not left to rest.

'At the time DNA was not an available test, but it was on its way so  the forensic scientists froze the samples they had from the woman,' he said.

He said Coutanche gave a DNA sample to police following a separate matter which showed a match.

The trial continues.