Sally Anne's mum sobs as Dixie prosecution closes

12:52pm Wednesday 20th February 2008

Sally Anne Bowman's mum was reduced to tears today while hearing the prosecution's closing speech.

Linda Bowman sobbed as Brian Altman gave the prosecution's account of the attack on her daughter to an Old Bailey jury.

�He has put up a smokescreen before you in the hope that you will be gullible and fall for his story but it is not just incredible but pure fantasy.�

Brian Altman

The 18-year-old model's sister had to leave the court as the jury heard the prosecution's description of the attack on September 25, 2005.

Mark Dixie, 37, a former chef at Ye Old Six Bells pub, Horley, is accused of murdering Sally Anne in a sexually motivated frenzied knife attack.

He denies killing her but admits he had sex with her corpse.

"He has put up a smokescreen before you in the hope that you will be gullible and fall for his story but it is not just incredible but pure fantasy," Brian Altman told the court.

Mr Altman talked about the similarities between the attack on Sally Anne Bowman and a Thai girl who was stabbed and sexually assaulted in Australia 10 years ago.

He told the court that believing Dixie's version of events would mean believing Dixie "is the unluckiest man alive."

"How unlucky can one man be? You should treat the contention with contempt.

"It amounts to a claim that lightning has struck twice from the southern to the northern hemisphere separated by a decade in time.

"We are dealing here with real life, not some fairy story. Common sense dictates that life cannot be so cruel to one person so often and so seriously."

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