The murderer of a 16-year-old was dubbed a "psycho" by his friends and warned police he would kill a schoolgirl years earlier, a court today heard.

Colin Ash-Smith, 46, allegedly stabbed schoolgirl Claire Tiltman in a frenzied attack as she walked to a friend's house in January 1993, just four days after her 16th birthday.

But unknown to detectives at the time, in December 1988 he had tried to rape and murder a mother in a late-night attack as she walked home alone from work in Swanscombe.

Years later in 1995 police discovered diaries containing "Assault Plans" in which he bragged about the attack and "glorified" what he had done, Inner London Crown Court heard yesterday (November 7).

In it he wrote: "My friends jokingly called me the Swanscombe psycho but they never suspected anything. In the end I got away with it.

"I even rang the police and told them some details about the attack. I also said if she (the victim) gave any description of me I would kill a schoolgirl."

Jurors at Inner London Crown Court heard that Ash-Smith pounced on the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in a 3am attack.

Brandishing a gun and a knife, he marched her to a nearby quarry where he tried to rape her, photographed her in sexual poses and stuffed tissue in her mouth.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said he then tried to strangle her with his school tie and "stabbed her repeatedly in her back from behind, telling her he was going to kill her".

He added: "He left the scene leaving her for dead. Remarkably, she survived and some time later managed to roll down the banks of the quarry where some men were working."

She had been stabbed five times and was "extremely lucky to survive the attack", Mr Altman added.

Ash-Smith had left half his tie at the scene, and tried to throw police off his trail by calling them saying he was the attacker and was catching a train to Charing Cross - giving them the impression he was from out of town.

Ash-Smith struck again in October 1995, when he stabbed 21-year-old healthcare assistant Charlotte Barnard almost within sight of the spot where he had allegedly killed Claire two years before.

He walked towards her down the street, stooped down as if he had dropped something saying 'Oh s**t' and then stood up and placed a knife to her throat.

She began screaming so he dragged her across the road to a closed business where he stabbed her 14 times.

Mr Altman said: "He made no attempt to demand money or anything else from her; there was no demand for sex; there was no sexual interference or any attempt at sexual interference.

"Instead he repeatedly stabbed her to the torso with the knife."

She collapsed in a bloody heap thinking she was going to die and Ash-Smith fled. But she was able to crawl to a nearby house for help.

Ash-Smith was spotted fleeing the scene in his distinctive souped-up white Ford Capri and he was arrested at home that night.

There officers found his blood-stained clothes, while the bloodied flick knife he used in the attack was discovered stashed in the garden.

In a search of his car they found one half of the Downs School tie which fit the half of the tie left at the 1988 attack scene seven years earlier.

They also retrieved the blood-spattered beige bomber jacket Ash-Smith is believed to have been wearing when he killed Claire, and on the day of her funeral.

Blood stains were found on the left sleeve and below the right pocket but there was not enough for blood grouping analysis.

In June 1998 they returned it to his father Aubrey and have not been able to find it despite extensive searches of homes linked to him.

In November 1995 while in police custody Ash-Smith confessed to Ms Barnard's stabbing and the 1988 attack in a note after a half-hearted suicide attempt.

He said he had "twice lost control and done something he did not know why".

He was also questioned about Claire's murder, but denied it.

At the time of Claire's killing he claimed he had been out leafleting with his mother Diane, a local Labour councillor.

But prosecutors say this is a "false alibi" concocted to throw detectives off his trail.

After Claire's murder Ash-Smith started acting "bizarrely" and acted out "play" attacks on his girlfriend Stella Murrell, mimicking the murder, jurors heard.

Mr Altman said: "He became withdrawn and aggressive if she tried engaging him about it. His whole personality changed."

On one occasion the couple were in Ash-Smith's road when he brought up the subject of Claire, it is claimed.

Mr Altman said: "He said he was upset that nobody had seen it happen. The next thing he did was to grab her from behind, put his arm across her neck and pulled her backwards.

"He told her he was doing it to see if anyone would see what he was doing and stop to help. She laughed it off thinking he was mucking about.

"You might conclude that one reason he was doing this was to see if anyone might have spotted him."

The court heard that another local woman called Sharron Hewitt had a lucky escape in the early 1990s when Ash-Smith walked into her bedroom where she was lying.

He was chased off by her brother, jurors heard.

Mr Altman said this showed Ash-Smith was willing to attack women he knew and could identify him.

It is alleged that while in Wakefield Prison Ash-Smith in effect confessed he killed Claire to his friend Stefan Dubois.

Ash-Smith allegedly confided in Dubois, a convicted sex offender, that he had been out in his car "looking for something".

Mr Altman said: "The impression Mr Dubois had gained was that he was angry and looking for something or someone.

"Significantly, he recalls the defendant telling him about crossing someone on a zebra crossing and shortly afterwards snapping and attacking them."

He said Dubois assumed this was a reference to an attack Ash-Smith was already convicted of, but he had "let slip" a crucial detail betraying his murder of Claire.

Ash-Smith called Dubois in August "trying to plant the idea in Mr Dubois' head that he had misunderstood what he had told him.

"But he had not misunderstood it at all, and the defendant knows it".

Ash-Smith denies murder and the case continues.

Proceedings were adjourned until 9.45am Monday.