Dixie masturbated on Sally Anne pic 'for porno'

4:08pm Tuesday 19th February 2008

The man accused of killing Sally Anne Bowman said he masturbated over her picture in a newspaper while he was making a porn film.

Police searched for Mark Dixie's personal belongings following his arrest on June 26, 2006 and found a suitcase in a barn at the pub where he had lived and worked.

It contained a digital camera with a video file showing a man watching a porn film and masturbating over a picture of Sally Anne on the front page of the Daily Mail.

When police carried out a search of Woodplace Lane, Coulsdon, they found discarded articles from the Croydon Guardian and Evening Standard reporting Sally Anne's death as well as a copy of the Daily Mail's front page which had a sticky substance over it.

Forensic tests on the substance revealed a link to the DNA taken from semen found on Sally Anne's body.

Dixie said he was making a pornographic film for a chef he was working with at the time. He said he was sleeping with someone the chef wanted to sleep with too.

Dixie said the reason he ejaculated over the picture was because he didn't want to do it over the couch.

"I came over the paper; it wasn't meant to be detrimental to Miss Bowman at all," he told the court today.

Prosecutor Brian Altman said the film clip showed him "reliving the killing".

"You know exactly how it looks. It looks horrible. It looks disgusting," he said.

Asked by Judge Gordon how he felt the day after he had sex with Sally-Anne's semi-naked body, Dixie said he was "disgusted" and "couldn't talk about it".

"It is not something you would talk about with anybody," he said. How would start that conversation?" he said.

He also said had meant to delete the video from his camera.

The court heard Dixie was arrested on June 15, 2006 for a trivial matter, not of a sexual nature, and as a result a DNA sample was taken.

The trial continues.

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