Britain has more people serving life sentences than the rest of Western Europe combined, and this week two more people joined that club.
The Suffolk Strangler will spend the rest of his life behind bars, with no chance of being released, after killing five prostitutes. He may also be the mysterious "Mr Kipper" responsible for the 1986 disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh .
And the former pub chef, Mark Dixie, has been sentenced to AT LEAST 34 years, with no chance of being released before that time, for the murder of Sally Anne Bowman. If he's released he'll be very elderly when he is.
Her family are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty.
Ex-chef sentenced to 34 years for model's murder
Friday February 22 2008.
The Guardian
Sally Anne Bowman and killer Dixie. Photographs: Jane Mingay and Metropolitan Police/PA
Former pub chef Mark Dixie was today sentenced to a minimum of 34 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of Sally Anne Bowman.
Bowman, an 18-year-old part-time model, was found in a pool of blood on the driveway of her home in Croydon, south London, in the early hours of September 25 2005.
She had been stabbed seven times, bitten and then raped. Three of the stab wounds were so severe that they went through her abdomen and out of her back.
Dixie, of no fixed address, this week admitted he had sex with Bowman's body while high on cocaine and alcohol. The 37-year-old denied killing her.
After three hours of deliberation, an Old Bailey jury of seven women and five men unanimously found him guilty of the murder.
Judge Gerald Gordon told Dixie: "I shall only say that what you did that night was so awful and repulsive that I do not propose to repeat it.
"Your consequent conduct shows you had not the slightest remorse for what you had done."
Bowman's family cheered as the verdict was announced. Later, they broke down in tears as the four-week trial, which has revealed harrowing evidence, came to a close.
"The last two and a half years have been torturously painful and immensely difficult," the victim's father, Paul Bowman, said.
"I do not think we could have got through it without the love and support that has been hugely available from family and friends.
"I hope that now Sally Anne can rest in peace and those affected so deeply by her untimely and brutal death can be afforded at least the chance to begin to grieve in earnest."
He said his daughter would "forever be missed and never forgotten".
Dixie bowed his head down and nodded as he was told his sentenced. Friends and family of Bowman shouted down from the public gallery as Dixie was taken down. One said: "Rot in hell you pervert." Another yelled: "I'll see you again."
Dixie called back: "Come on, both of you."
Detective Superintendent Stuart Cundy, who led the investigation, said the crime was one of the most horrific sexual attacks in British history and said Dixie's defence was "truly contemptible".
"Mark Dixie faces a life behind bars - a result that ensures the public are protected from a truly dangerous sexual killer."
"Sally Anne was a young woman who had her whole of her life ahead of her. Mark Dixie cut that life short in the most horrific way imaginable."
Dixie had a string of previous convictions for sex offences, and detectives believe he could have killed while living in Australia during the 90s.
Cundy said he believed there are other victims of Dixie who have not come forward and urging them to inform the police.
Dixie was arrested nine months after Bowman was killed after a minor scuffle at Ye Olde Six Bells pub in Horley, Surrey. His DNA was taken and found to match that found on Bowman's body.
A film recording of Dixie masturbating over a newspaper picture of Bowman as he fantasised over the sex killing was found among his belongings in the barn of the Horley pub, helping to convict him.
Brian Altman, prosecuting, said Dixie murdered Bowman, who worked as a hairdresser, for his own sexual gratification and concocted a "ludicrous" defence "out of desperation".
Dixie's refusal to admit his crime also meant two previous victims had to relive attacks he had carried out years before as they gave evidence against him.
Officers said they believed Dixie enjoyed hearing details of his crimes being told in court by the victims.
He described himself as the "life and soul of the party", with a large appetite for illegal drugs.
On the night of Bowman's murder, he had been drinking heavily and taking drugs while celebrating his 35th birthday.
He stayed overnight at a friend's flat near Bowman's house, in Blenheim Crescent. After his friends went to bed, he locked them in a bedroom and went out.
Dixie is thought to have attacked a female motorist, whose mobile phone was stolen before a taxi driver came to her aid.
Earlier in the trial, he expressed regret at having sex with Bowman's dead body, claiming he initially thought his victim had "passed out or fallen over".
Dixie said he did not know what went through his mind when he saw a pair of legs with a shirt pulled down to the waist.
He told the court he later realised, as he was having sex with Bowman, that she was in fact dead.
The trial heard how he then panicked and attempted to hide traces of his DNA by placing cement dust on the victim's body.
He went to a friend's flat where he smoked cannabis to try to calm down, slept for a few hours and then went out drinking.
Bowman had been dropped home by her boyfriend, 22-year-old Lewis Sproston, in the early hours of September 25.
The pair, who had a tempestuous relationship, argued for more than an hour, and it is believed Dixie lay in wait. Minutes after Sproston left, Bowman was attacked and killed.
Jurors were told how neighbours heard her screams and the sound of a dragging noise, as though somebody was going to put something in a skip.
June Cumpper said she saw a man walking across the road after hearing the screams, but lost sight of him at Bowman's house. She described how the man was looking from side to side with his hands open.
Anne Hardy then discovered Bowman's bloodied body after going to investigate "a pair of white legs" near a skip.
guardian.co.uk
The Suffolk Strangler will spend the rest of his life behind bars, with no chance of being released, after killing five prostitutes. He may also be the mysterious "Mr Kipper" responsible for the 1986 disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh .
And the former pub chef, Mark Dixie, has been sentenced to AT LEAST 34 years, with no chance of being released before that time, for the murder of Sally Anne Bowman. If he's released he'll be very elderly when he is.
Her family are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty.
Ex-chef sentenced to 34 years for model's murder
Friday February 22 2008.
The Guardian
Sally Anne Bowman and killer Dixie. Photographs: Jane Mingay and Metropolitan Police/PA
Former pub chef Mark Dixie was today sentenced to a minimum of 34 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of Sally Anne Bowman.
Bowman, an 18-year-old part-time model, was found in a pool of blood on the driveway of her home in Croydon, south London, in the early hours of September 25 2005.
She had been stabbed seven times, bitten and then raped. Three of the stab wounds were so severe that they went through her abdomen and out of her back.
Dixie, of no fixed address, this week admitted he had sex with Bowman's body while high on cocaine and alcohol. The 37-year-old denied killing her.
After three hours of deliberation, an Old Bailey jury of seven women and five men unanimously found him guilty of the murder.
Judge Gerald Gordon told Dixie: "I shall only say that what you did that night was so awful and repulsive that I do not propose to repeat it.
"Your consequent conduct shows you had not the slightest remorse for what you had done."
Bowman's family cheered as the verdict was announced. Later, they broke down in tears as the four-week trial, which has revealed harrowing evidence, came to a close.
"The last two and a half years have been torturously painful and immensely difficult," the victim's father, Paul Bowman, said.
"I do not think we could have got through it without the love and support that has been hugely available from family and friends.
"I hope that now Sally Anne can rest in peace and those affected so deeply by her untimely and brutal death can be afforded at least the chance to begin to grieve in earnest."
He said his daughter would "forever be missed and never forgotten".
Dixie bowed his head down and nodded as he was told his sentenced. Friends and family of Bowman shouted down from the public gallery as Dixie was taken down. One said: "Rot in hell you pervert." Another yelled: "I'll see you again."
Dixie called back: "Come on, both of you."
Detective Superintendent Stuart Cundy, who led the investigation, said the crime was one of the most horrific sexual attacks in British history and said Dixie's defence was "truly contemptible".
"Mark Dixie faces a life behind bars - a result that ensures the public are protected from a truly dangerous sexual killer."
"Sally Anne was a young woman who had her whole of her life ahead of her. Mark Dixie cut that life short in the most horrific way imaginable."
Dixie had a string of previous convictions for sex offences, and detectives believe he could have killed while living in Australia during the 90s.
Cundy said he believed there are other victims of Dixie who have not come forward and urging them to inform the police.
Dixie was arrested nine months after Bowman was killed after a minor scuffle at Ye Olde Six Bells pub in Horley, Surrey. His DNA was taken and found to match that found on Bowman's body.
A film recording of Dixie masturbating over a newspaper picture of Bowman as he fantasised over the sex killing was found among his belongings in the barn of the Horley pub, helping to convict him.
Brian Altman, prosecuting, said Dixie murdered Bowman, who worked as a hairdresser, for his own sexual gratification and concocted a "ludicrous" defence "out of desperation".
Dixie's refusal to admit his crime also meant two previous victims had to relive attacks he had carried out years before as they gave evidence against him.
Officers said they believed Dixie enjoyed hearing details of his crimes being told in court by the victims.
He described himself as the "life and soul of the party", with a large appetite for illegal drugs.
On the night of Bowman's murder, he had been drinking heavily and taking drugs while celebrating his 35th birthday.
He stayed overnight at a friend's flat near Bowman's house, in Blenheim Crescent. After his friends went to bed, he locked them in a bedroom and went out.
Dixie is thought to have attacked a female motorist, whose mobile phone was stolen before a taxi driver came to her aid.
Earlier in the trial, he expressed regret at having sex with Bowman's dead body, claiming he initially thought his victim had "passed out or fallen over".
Dixie said he did not know what went through his mind when he saw a pair of legs with a shirt pulled down to the waist.
He told the court he later realised, as he was having sex with Bowman, that she was in fact dead.
The trial heard how he then panicked and attempted to hide traces of his DNA by placing cement dust on the victim's body.
He went to a friend's flat where he smoked cannabis to try to calm down, slept for a few hours and then went out drinking.
Bowman had been dropped home by her boyfriend, 22-year-old Lewis Sproston, in the early hours of September 25.
The pair, who had a tempestuous relationship, argued for more than an hour, and it is believed Dixie lay in wait. Minutes after Sproston left, Bowman was attacked and killed.
Jurors were told how neighbours heard her screams and the sound of a dragging noise, as though somebody was going to put something in a skip.
June Cumpper said she saw a man walking across the road after hearing the screams, but lost sight of him at Bowman's house. She described how the man was looking from side to side with his hands open.
Anne Hardy then discovered Bowman's bloodied body after going to investigate "a pair of white legs" near a skip.
guardian.co.uk