The boyfriend of murdered model Sally Anne Bowman could be serving a life sentence if Mark Dixie had not been found, her mother has claimed.

Linda Bowman, 46, speaking on a TV programme, said police officers told her if no DNA had been found plasterer Lewis Sproston, 24, could have been sentenced to life in prison as he was the prime suspect.

Mrs Bowman said: “To me that is dreadful.

“There could have been an innocent person in prison right now.

“DNA is such an important factor in this case.”

Sally Ann’s murder shocked the UK, but even after a massive manhunt police still struggled to catch her killer.

The programme on ITV revealed that nine months after the murder the investigation was broken open by a totally unrelated incident.

Dixie, a chef at the time, was watching an England football game in a pub when he got involved in a minor fight in full view of police community support officers.

The police were able to arrest and convict Mark Dixie, 39, after he was swabbed for his DNA.

Detective Inspector Chris Le Pere said: “Dixie’s DNA was put into the system and then cross-referenced on the national database.

“Two weeks later we got the information – bingo, we’ve had the hit, we’ve identified your offender as Mark Dixie.”

On hearing Dixie’s guilty verdict, Sally Anne’s father, Paul Bowman, recalled his feelings.

He said: “I can’t say as I’ll never feel sort of happy, properly happy, all the time I draw breath really.

“But it was one of the better feelings in the last three-and-a-half years.”

Sally Anne, who was born in Carshalton and attended Cheam High School, was a student at the Brit School in Croydon before she was murdered.

Detective Superintendent Stuart Cundy, who led the investigation into the murder, said: “It is still one of the worst crimes ever committed by an individual.”

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