'Jealous boyfriend murdered teenage model Sally Anne after a bitter row', claims defence

Lewis Sproston, 22, and his girlfriend had a furious argument on the night she died, which ended with the couple brawling in the street outside her home, a court heard yesterday.

Hours later, the 18-year-old's nearly naked body was found in a pool of blood yards from her front door.

Pub chef Mark Dixie, 37, is on trial accused of killing the aspiring model while high on cocaine. He denies murder, although he admits having sex with her dead body.

Defending Dixie, Anthony Glass QC yesterday directly accused Mr Sproston of killing Miss Bowman following a two-hour argument.

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After the row, Mr Sproston forced his girlfriend to get out of his car, and she then grabbed him by the throat and climbed on to his car bonnet in an attempt to stop him leaving, the Old Bailey heard.

But the plasterer drove off, leaving Miss Bowman alone outside her home in Croydon, South London, in the early hours of September 25, 2005. When she was found at 6.30am, she had been stabbed seven times, bitten and sexually assaulted.

Mr Sproston, of Tooting in South London, turned up at the Old Bailey yesterday wearing a light grey suit and a pair of Converse. However, he replaced his trainers with smart black shoes for the hearing.

In court, the defence barrister asked him: "Did you lose your temper and kill her?"

"No," Mr Sproston replied. Mr Glass then said: "Had you left her dead or dying?"

Mr Sproston answered: "Are you being serious? No."

When Miss Bowman's body was found dumped behind a skip, suspicion quickly fell on her boyfriend, as he was the last person to see her alive.

He was arrested on suspicion of her murder later that day. At the time, he asked police: "Is this about the row with my girlfriend last night?"

The jury was told that the couple had a "bitterly jealous" relationship.

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On the night of the murder, Mr Sproston picked up Miss Bowman from a night out in Croydon after she invented a story about being stranded.

Mr Glass said that Mr Sproston suspected his girlfriend had been with another man and the lie had "wound him up".

He sent her a text message, warning: "I'm coming to meet you. If I see you with a bloke I will spit in your face."

The couple argued for nearly two hours in his car outside her house, the court heard.

When asked what the argument was about, he said: "I thought that she was with boys that night, she thought that I was with girls. Just jealousy."

Mr Sproston said he last saw Sally Anne at 4.10am in his rear-view mirror as he pulled away. She was walking up the driveway of her home.

Mr Glass asked Mr Sproston if he had a "guilty conscience".

"Not really," said the plasterer. "I thought she made it home. I thought she was perfectly well and healthy. It was just a normal argument."

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Mr Sproston, who is no longer considered a suspect, later told detectives that he had seen a man watching the couple whilst they argued.

But he said yesterday that he could not be sure whether he had imagined the sighting. Earlier, the court heard that Dixie's DNA, bloody fingerprints and teeth marks were found on Sally Anne's body.

The dead girl's mother also paid tribute to her daughter yesterday. Linda Bowman, 45, described Sally Anne as a headstrong but kind girl who was on the verge of being signed by leading model agency Premier.

In a statement to the court, she said: "She could be very stubborn and opinionated. She was naive and childish.

"Having said all this she was a genuinely warm-hearted girl who adored children."

The trial continues.