The mother of murdered teenager Sally Anne Bowman has spoken of her horror after a detective showed colleagues photos of her daughter's mutilated body.
Linda Bowman said ex-Met Police Det Sgt Jason Grafham had taken her daughter's dignity by keeping the shocking images in his desk.
Grafham, 55, retired with his full pension earlier this month just days before he was found guilty of gross misconduct for sharing the images and making sexually inappropriate remarks to female colleagues.
Linda Bowman's reaction
Linda, 64, told the Daily Mirror: "He has had these pictures for 20 years. That's my baby and he's been showing photos to fellow officers of my child lying in a pool of blood. What he's done to Sally is appalling, it's unforgivable. Why did they let him retire when he was still under investigation? Why wasn't he arrested?'"
Sally Anne, 18, was stabbed to death and raped in Croydon, South London, on September 25, 2005. Serial sex offender Mark Dixie, now 55, was convicted of her murder in 2008 and jailed for life with a minimum of 34 years.
Grafham, who was the exhibits officer on the case, was found guilty of keeping the images, showing them to others and making sexually inappropriate remarks to three female colleagues.
Victim impact statement
Linda said in a victim impact statement given to the tribunal: "It feels that me and my family are reliving the loss of Sally Anne all over again. These were the worst images you could ever imagine ever seeing and to be told that they have been kept by a police officer who worked on her murder… I cannot comprehend why anyone would keep them.
"It’s like a pain in my chest, like somebody has hit you with a sledgehammer. It just exacerbated my grief and has meant that we have all shed more tears in the past two weeks after finding out what DS Jason Grafham has done."
The tribunal heard a female colleague first reported the detective for making sexual remarks in March 2024 before two more women came forward with similar complaints. A male officer then reported him in late 2024 after Grafham showed him the crime scene photos of Sally Anne. Four photocopies of colour images of her lying dead on the ground were later discovered in his office along with an album of pictures of the dead teenager.
Inappropriate remarks
The tribunal heard that referring to Dixie, Grafham told one female officer, known only as Miss C, "you'd be just his type." He sent a Christmas card to another disgusted colleague, saying, "pull your knickers down immediately and I'll oblige". Grafham told the same officer, known as Miss A, on another occasion, "I was trying to look up your skirt," as they walked with colleagues having attended a mindfulness course.
The misconduct hearing, which Grafham did not attend, ruled that his actions had compounded the emotional harm and grief suffered by Sally Anne's family, and that there was no policing reason for him to possess the images. He was also found guilty of making the sexually inappropriate remarks.
Apology and context
Det Chief Supt Angela Craggs apologised to Sally Anne's family, saying Grafham's actions were "despicable, incomprehensible and deeply disrespectful". She said: "I am profoundly sorry to the family and loved ones of Sally Anne Bowman for the additional pain and distress caused to them by what he did."
Tribunal chairman Paul Trevers said that displaying the photos without any policing purpose "was profoundly inappropriate and failed to treat the victim with dignity".
It comes after Met PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed for taking photos of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry and sharing them on WhatsApp groups in 2020. Some 461 officers were dismissed or had their contracts terminated in 2025/26, up from 426 in the previous 12 months. It is the third year in a row that a new record has been set, according to data published by the Home Office.
Linda hopes the case will serve as a warning to other police officers. She said: "If there is anything that anyone can learn from this, it is to remember your job as a police officer is a privilege."
