Sally Anne Bowman's remains 'exhumed after grave desecrated' Published duration 3 August 2017

image copyright PA image caption Eighteen-year-old Sally Anne Bowman was murdered by Mark Dixie in south London in 2005

Murdered model Sally Anne Bowman's remains had to be exhumed after "cruel people" repeatedly desecrated her grave, her mother says.

Linda Bowman said they acted after her 18-year-old daughter's burial place attracted "absolute fruit loops".

Speaking to the Daily Mirror , Mrs Bowman said the grave was targeted four times in six months.

Mark Dixie, 46, was jailed in 2008 for stabbing Miss Bowman then raping her as she lay dead or dying in south London.

Sally Anne's remains were removed from her grave four years ago, Mrs Bowman said, because "someone kept destroying her grave and her headstone".

"We used to have funny men hanging around over there," said Mrs Bowman.

"Myself and her dad had to go through the Ministry of Justice to have it exhumed."

Other incidents involved dirt and dead flowers being spread across the grave, the trauma of which brought memories of her daughter's death "flooding back", Mrs Bowman said.

image copyright PA image caption Mark Dixie was jailed for a minimum of 34 years in 2008

Last month Dixie, who killed Sally Ann in Croydon in 2005, admitted two further attacks, one involving the rape of a woman when he was aged 16.

On 26 July, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC told Southwark Crown Court Dixie revealed the attacks to police after confessing in January 2015 to the murder of Sally Anne.

image copyright PA image caption Sally Anne Bowman was found dead by a skip in Croydon

During his original three-week trial Dixie claimed to have found Miss Bowman dead and proceeded to have sex with her lifeless body after he had been on a drink and drugs binge.

The 18-year-old's body was found next to a skip in September 2005.

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