Family of Sally Anne Bowman had murdered model's remains exhumed after grave repeatedly desecrated

The mother of murdered model Sally Anne Bowman has told how she took the difficult decision to have her daughter's ashes exhumed after "cruel people" repeatedly desecrated the teenager's grave.

Linda Bowman told The Mirror newspaper that the grave had been damaged four times in six months, the headstone smashed and strange cards left with Sally Anne's name in red writing.

Sally Anne died in 2005, the victim of a frenzied attack outside her home in 2005 by serial violent sexual predator Mark Dixie.

Dixie, who was jailed for life in 2008 for the model's rape and murder, was in court against last month after admitting to carrying out sex attacks on two other women.

Sally-Anne's ashes were exhumed four years ago after it began attracting "absolute fruit loops" who would vandalise the grave at night.

"We had to have Sally Anne's remains exhumed and her ashes brought home because someone kept destroying her grave and her headstone," she told The Mirror.

"We used to have funny men hanging around over there. Myself and her dad had to go through the ministry of justice to have it exhumed."

The harrowing experience brought memories of their daughter's death "flooding back", Mrs Bowman said.

"There are some cruel people out there who get a kick out of these things," she said.

Dixie was convicted of Sally Anne's murder with the help of DNA evidence.

The former pub chef maintained his innocence until eventually confessing in 2015.

In his recent admission he said he had raped a woman in her own car in an isolated south London car park in 1987, when he was just 16, before tying her up inside and setting it on fire.

In the second attack, in 2002, he bludgeoned a woman with a knife sharpening implement, molested her and told her he was "going to kill" her.

Dixie is due to be sentenced in September.