The mother of murdered teenager Sally Anne Bowman has pleaded with police hunting her killer to take claims from a spiritualist seriously.

Ben Murphy claimed the 18-year-old model has appeared to him several times during group sessions at the Spiritualist church in St Albans.

Miss Bowman was killed and sexually assaulted just yards from her home in Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon, in September last year.

The spiritualist, a 35-year-old plasterer from Watford, believes he was given vital clues about the murderer and is frustrated that police will not take him seriously.

Mr Murphy said: "Sally first showed me how a man grabbed her from behind.

"He was wearing gloves and a hooded top, but his face was blanked out. He had stabbed her quite a few times.

"She then showed me a handbag with some writing on the side and also some of the things from her bag - a phone, some keys.

"At this stage, the members of the circle were listening and three or four of them mentioned a lipstick or lip balm. Sally Anne then showed a man in his bedroom taking a clear bag containing a few of her personal items out of a wardrobe.

"From the bedroom she showed me a park. In the park she showed me a small hill where there was a tree and a man kneeling down at the tree.

"She said that these items are buried here and the man comes back to look at them.

"I was also given the name Justin while in meditation.

"She gave me the actual experience of being covered in blood.

"I was lying at an angle as if my back was in arched position and the blood running up my face and into my hair.

"She also showed me a shoe print which had been left in blood."

The visions, which have come from looking into flames during group meditation sessions, have lasted for up to an hour.

Mr Murphy, who believes he has been having psychic experiences since 2001, says the murdered teenager also gave him messages for her family and boyfriend.

He has drawn a picture of the killer, markedly different from the official police drawing.

Miss Bowman's mum, Linda, said there are a number of correlations between Mr Murphy's findings and claims by other psychic-mediums. She asked detectives leading the murder investigation to take the information seriously.

"I'm a firm believer in this sort of thing and I believe what these people have to say could hold some vital clues into the investigation," she said.

"A lot of what Mr Murphy has said makes sense. We've been told by two other mediums that Sally Anne's belongings are hidden by a tree in a park.

"Sally Anne was totally into this sort of thing and she would have believed in this 110 per cent.

"I know that the police only deal with facts but speaking to these people may hold vital clues."

A police spokesman said: "We get a lot of calls from spiritualists, but we deal in fact."