THE mother of Sally Anne Bowman, the 18-year-old who was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death outside her home, has spoken for the first time about her daughter’s dreams of becoming a supermodel.

Bowman grew up in Croydon, south London, and hoped to emulate the borough’s most famous daughter, Kate Moss, on the catwalk.

Her mother Linda said yesterday: “Sally was noticed wherever she went; heads would turn, she knew it and enjoyed every minute.

“She was always glamorous even when just going shopping in Asda. I only wish she made the front cover of Vogue and if this could be made possible now, this means all her dreams would become true. At least her murderer could not take that from her.

“My Sally was the most caring young lady you could ever wish to meet.

“She had the face and the singing voice of an angel. Her favourite song she would sing at the karaoke bars was My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. The last time she sang this song was at pub where she received a standing ovation.”

Bowman, who earlier this year reached the finals of a contest to find the face of Swatch watches, called herself Sky when modelling.

Her family had such faith in her future as a model that her older sister christened her baby daughter Sky, now five months old, after her.

Detectives investigating the murder yesterday appealed for help in locating a missing piece of her clothing.

Bowman was wearing a short white crochet bolero-style cardigan over a butterfly-decorated top while she was out with her sister and her friends in Croydon town centre last weekend.

The cardigan, which ties around the middle, was missing when she was found lying next to a skip outside her flat in Blenheim Crescent, Croydon, just after dawn last Sunday. A post mortem gave the cause of death as haemorrhage due to multiple stab wounds.

The killer also took Bowman’s white, half-moon shaped Prada handbag. Inside was her Samsung D500 mobile phone, her passport and a black Gucci purse with a red and green stripe.

The murder weapon, believed to be a single-edged kitchen carving knife, has not been found.

Police initially held her boyfriend, who had dropped her off in his car shortly before she was murdered, and three other men in connection with the death, but they were all released when forensic evidence linked the murder to a sexual assault on another young woman in the same area in 2001.

Detectives believe that the killer may also have attacked another woman an hour before the murder.

A man matching the description of the murder suspect approached the 36-year-old victim on Sanderstead Road, a few hundred yards from the murder scene, after her car had broken down and she was walking in the street trying to get a better mobile phone signal.

He beat her with a metal bar before stealing her handbag. The woman believes she saw a knife in his waistband.

The murder suspect is described as a white man in his twenties or thirties, between 5ft 9in and 6ft, proportionate build and short dark hair. He is clean-shaven. It is thought he was wearing dark jeans or trousers and a long-sleeved top.

Early today detectives were due to hold what Scotland Yard called an “anniversary appeal” for information at the murder scene.

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Cundy, who is leading the murder hunt, said: “I retain an open mind as to who this is and why this horrific attack occurred.”

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