Sally Anne’s mum begs police to listen to medium

10:31am Wednesday 19th April 2006

By Sami Mokbel

The mother of murdered teenager Sally Anne Bowman has pleaded with police to take claims from a spiritualist seriously as the hunt for her daughter's killer continues.

Ben Murphy says the 18-year-old model, who was killed and sexually assaulted just yards from her home in Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon, in September last year, has appeared to him on several occasions during group sessions at the Spiritualist church in St Albans.

The 35-year-old plasterer, from Watford, believes he has been given vital clues as to the identity of the murderer and is frustrated that police will not take him seriously.

"He was wearing gloves and a hooded top, but his face was blanked out. He had stabbed her quite a few times.

"She then showed me a handbag with some writing on the side and also some of the things from her bag, a phone, some keys.

"At this stage, the members of the circle were listening and three or four of them mentioned a lipstick or lip balm. Sally Anne then showed a man in his bedroom taking a clear bag containing a few of her personal items out of a wardrobe.

"From the bedroom she showed me a park. In the park she showed me a small hill where there was a tree and a man kneeling down at the tree.

"She said that these items are buried here and the man comes back to look at them.

"I was lying at an angle as if my back was in arched position and the blood running up my face and into my hair.

The visions, which have come from looking into flames during group meditation sessions, have lasted for up to an hour.

Mr Murphy, who believes he has been having psychic experiences of sorts since 2001, says the murdered teenager has also given him messages for her family and boyfriend.

He has also drawn a picture of the killer, markedly different from the official police drawing.

Sally Anne's mum, Linda Bowman says there are a number of correlations between Mr Murphy's findings and what other psychic-mediums have said they have seen and has asked detectives leading the murder investigation to take the claims seriously.

"I'm a firm believer in this sort of thing and I believe what these people have to say could hold some vital clues into the investigation," she said.

"A lot of what Mr Murphy has said makes sense. We've been told by two other mediums that Sally Anne's belongings are hidden by a tree in a park.

"Sally Anne was totally into this sort of thing and she would have believed in this 110 per cent.

"I know that the police only deal with facts but speaking to these people may hold vital clues."

A police spokesman said: "We get a lot of calls from spiritualists, but we deal in fact."