Rape accused 'can't account' for his DNA on Leeds student victim 50 years on
A man accused of breaking into student halls and raping a young woman almost 50 years ago has no explanation as to how his DNA was found on the victim.
David Sharp is on trial at Leeds Crown Court, charged with rape and sexual assault from October 1977.
He was arrested after West Yorkshire Police re-opened the unsolved case in 2023.
Officers re-tested swabs taken from the victim hours after the attack, and were found to be an exact DNA match to 66-year-old Sharp.
Giving evidence on day three of his trial, the retired computer worker told the jury he did not break into the accommodation in Headingley that night and “did not rape anyone”.
Asked by his barrister Richard English KC how he would account for his semen being found on the victim that night, he said: “I can’t account for it.”
He said he was just 17 himself at the time and had “one-night stands”, but could not recall meeting the victim.
He said he was “shocked” and “in disbelief” at being arrested by police at his home in Devon almost 50 years later.
Asked why he refused to answer questions during his interview to police, he said he was given legal advice by a solicitor largely due to the time lapse since 1977, that he would only be guessing at answers. He had already given a prepared statement denying the crime.
During cross examination by prosecutor Jayne Beckett, he told her he “trusted the science”, but again could not explain how his DNA came to be on the victim.
She pointed out that the victim had only arrived in Leeds to start her university life hours before being attacked, so he would have had to have had a “one-night stand” that night.
Ms Beckett pointed that out the victim said the rapist was wearing motorbike-type clothing, and that Sharp was known to ride bikes in the 1970s.
Sharp, of Copland Meadows, Totnes, Devon, said: “I did not rape her.”
The jury was previously told that the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was due to begin university in October of 1977.
She had been dropped off at the student halls on the night of October 1, having been driven up by her parents from their home in the south of England.
Having gone to bed at 11pm, she was woken abruptly by the sound of her bedroom window being put through at around 3am.
The intruder then climbed through, before raping her, the court heard.
He was disturbed by a noise and fled through the front door as the woman was left in tears.
She raised the alarm with her halls neighbour, and they called the police from a nearby payphone.
The court heard that despite her ordeal, the victim went on to complete her studies.
The trial continues.