A man in his 50s is due to appear in court today charged with the murder and rape of a 17-year-old schoolgirl in South Hampstead more than 30 years ago.

James Warnock, 56, of Harrington Street, Camden Town, was charged this morning with the murder and rape of

Yiannoulla Yianni.

The charge comes after he was arrested in Golders Green yesterday.

Warnock, who was 23 at the time of the murder, is in custody and will appear in Hendon Magistrates Court later today.

A murder inquiry was launched by the Met on August 13 1982, after Yiannoulla’s parents found their daughter’s body at the family home in Belsize Road, Hampstead.

Yiannoulla went to Quintin Kynaston School, in St John’s Wood, and worked part-time at Woolworths in Finchley Road.

Detective Inspector Julie Willats, of the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “The Met never close unsolved murders and regardless of the passage of time cases can and will be reviewed, for any new opportunities to develop previously unknown lines of enquiry, and follow-up any fresh information which has become known to us.

“Yiannoulla’s family - who understandably are still devastated by the loss of their beloved daughter and sister more than three decades ago - have been fully informed of this new development.”