Detective Who Kept Photos Of Murdered Teenager Retired On Full Pay Last Week

A Metropolitan Police detective has retired one day before his disciplinary tribunal began over images he kept of the body of a teenager who was raped and murdered in Croydon in September 2025.

Det Sgt Jason Grafham kept photocopies of “extremely graphic” crime scene images of 18-year-old Sally Anne Bowman in a locked cabinet in his office for 20 years.

The tribunal went ahead in his absence, finding Grafham guilty of gross misconduct and permanently barring him from serving in the police.

However, because he retired 24 hours before his tribunal began, Grafham continues to receive his pension because he was not convicted of a criminal offence.

Grafham initially denied keeping the photographs altogether, but his defence representative later argued that he had retained the materials for legitimate “policing purposes” and training.

The defence claimed Grafham kept the photocopies as a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to teach crime scene investigators, and not for any other weird reason at all.

However, his colleagues rejected this idea, arguing that Grafham kept the images for personal “entertainment and bragging rights”.

Colleagues also testified that when Grafham showed the images, it was never done in a formal or professional training environment.

One colleague noted his constant references to the 2005 murder had become an office “running joke” rather than educational material.

Grafham was also found guilty of making a series of sexually inappropriate, discriminatory, and derogatory remarks to his colleagues.

In the end, Panel chairman Commander Paul Trevers officially ruled that there was absolutely no valid policing reason for Grafham to possess the photocopies, concluding he kept them strictly for personal gratification, which is obviously completely gross and unprofessional.

Sally Anne Bowman was killed at around 4am on 24 September 2005 following a night out with friends at Lloyd’s Bar in Croydon. Bowman had just been dropped off home by her boyfriend, and moments after he drove off, was stabbed in the neck and stomach by a stranger, who raped as she lay dead or dying.

35-year-old Croydon man Mark Dixie was found guilty of her murder and has been in prison ever since.

For the police officer who was sacked after being busted writing erotic stories on his laptop, click HERE.