Boyfriend of murdered model to sue NotW (From Croydon Guardian)

Boyfriend of Sally Anne Bowman taking legal action over alleged phone hacking

9:39am Monday 11th June 2012 in News

The boyfriend of murdered teenage model Sally Anne Bowman is taking legal action against the News of the World over alleged phone-hacking.

Lewis Sproston, initially arrested but quickly cleared of the murder of the 18-year-old in September 2005, is the latest person to accuse the now defunct newspaper of illegally hacking his phone.

Mr Sproston, from Tooting, is demanding damages from both News Group Newspapers, publishers of the now defunct News of the World, and disgraced private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Sally Anne was found stabbed to death outside her home on Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon.

Seven years ago, pub chef Mark Dixie was found guilty of her murder and jailed for at least 34 years following a trial in 2008.

Dixie had a string of previous convictions for sex offences and was arrested and charged nine months later following a minor fracas in a pub. His was linked with the murder when his DNA was put through the police national database.

Allegations against the News of the World over phone hacking were raised last year, with the newspaper accused of accessing the voice mail messages of the victims of the July 7 bombings, various celebrities and Milly Dowler In August last year Sally Anne’s mother Linda Bowman suggested she believed her daughter’s phone may have been hacked following her murder.

The company has this year already settled multiple claims brought at the High Court.