Updated

The mother of British catwalk model Sally Anne Bowman said that the sadistic chef found guilty of her grisly murder Friday stole the teenager's "last piece of dignity."

"I cannot understand why my baby girl was taken from me in such a brutal and depraved way," said a weeping Linda Bowman, after 37-year-old Mark Dixie was convicted of her daughter's killing.

Dixie, who has a long history of sexual violence against women, stabbed 18-year-old Sally Anne seven times; bit her cheek, breast and neck; and had sex with her body.

His attack on the aspiring model was so violent that the knife had passed straight through her neck.

Dixie was sentenced Friday in England to life in prison.

"To be told after death he raped her and stole her belongings leaves me with the feeling that he took her last piece of dignity," the grieving mother said. "Please can you ask him why did he kill her and why do those things?"

After the verdict, police appealed for women around the world who think they might have been attacked by Dixie — who will serve at least 34 years behind bars — to come forward.

Sally Anne's family cheered loudly in court as the jury found him guilty of murder after just three hours of deliberation.

Some shouted angrily as Dixie was taken down, with one yelling: "Rot in hell, pervert!"

Bowman also told how she saw Sally Anne "lying in a body bag on a cold slab in the mortuary," her hair wet from having blood washed out of it.

She added: "I had one more look at Sally Anne... and told her how much I loved her.

"As I looked back through the glass I saw the biggest, brightest, bluest eyes in the world. I vowed to get the person who had taken her from us."

Outside court, her father Paul said he hoped his daughter could now rest in peace and would never be forgotten.

Sally Anne Bowman, a part-time hairdresser who dreamed of appearing on the front cover of Vogue magazine, was found dead in the driveway of her Croydon, England, home after a night out with friends in September 2005.

Dixie, a wanderer who had been staying nearby, claimed he found the teenager, thought she had passed out drunk and had sex with her — but denied killing her.

He was brought to justice by chance when he was arrested nine months later after getting into a minor scuffle over a World Cup football match at a Surrey pub where he worked.

A sample of his DNA was taken, and experts found a match with Sally Anne Bowman when the information was put on the police national computer 12 days later.

Dixie had a string of previous convictions for sex offences on women stretching back 20 years, starting when he was just 16.

Detectives believe he may even have killed and raped while living in Australia in the 1990s — he was deported back to England in 1999.

As well as possible victims in the UK and Australia, he also spent time living in Spain and Holland.