THE daughter of a murdered Gwent woman today issues a heartfelt plea that her mother's killer should not be paroled. She talks exclusively to ANDY RUTHERFORD.

MURDERER Michael Bowen must stay behind bars, and should end the anguish of his victim's family by telling them where her body is hidden.

That is the double plea from the daughter of Sandie Bowen, whose husband - jailed for life in 1998 after being found guilty of murdering her in Gwent the previous year - is preparing to face a Parole Board hearing on September 4.

Anita Giles believes her mum's killer to be a cruel, selfish, manipulative man, prolonging her family's agony by refusing to reveal where he disposed of his third wife's body.

And in a powerful statement to the Parole Board, she reveals the devastating effect her mother's untimely death has had on her and explains why Bowen should remain in prison.

Bowen, now 61, was sentenced to a minimum 18 years for the crime and is extremely unlikely to be released before that time is up.

Including his remand prior to trial and sentence, he will have spent 15 years in custody by September. For such long term prisoners, the parole process begins three years before the minimum tariff is completed.

Their progress and other factors are assessed, to determine if they are suitable for transfer to a lower category or open prison, ahead of definitive release.

They can be made to serve beyond the minimum tariff however, and Miss Giles is adamant Bowen deserves to stay in prison for many more years, and she hopes he dies "a very slow and painful death."

Mrs Bowen, originally from Kent, went missing from her home in Llandogo, Monmouthshire, in August 1997, on the day her husband discovered she was having an affair. He was also having an affair at the time.

He told police he had last seen her at Newport railway station, having dropped her off for her to catch a train to Folkestone, to see her daughter. She never arrived.

He denied any involvement in her disappearance, but her blood and false teeth were discovered at the couple's house. Bowen was charged and convicted of murder despite the body not being found. Though in 2002 he admitted responsibility for her death, he has continually refused to reveal the whereabouts of her body.

Mother-of-three Miss Giles, 48, who still lives near Folkestone, told the Argus she has known for some time that a parole hearing was coming.

In her victim personal statement she describes her close relationship with her mother, her loneliness as an only child with no-one to share her grief with, and how the knowledge "that her body was dumped somewhere to rot" has given her nightmares for years.

She also tells of her emotional struggles, her treatment for depression, and concludes: "As far as I am concerned he should not be released at all, let alone early for what he has done."

Miss Giles said she could go to the hearing and read out her statement: "But he has the choice not to remain in the room. I've decided not to go, because I don't want to give him the satisfaction."

The location of her mother's body is one of many missing details about the case that continue to torment Miss Giles.

"Why has he never given my family the peace we deserve?" she said.

"It's been very difficult. I'm an only child and so was my mum. I have no other family. I have a fantastic network of friends, but my boys deserved a nan and I deserved to have my mum around. There have never been any answers.

"I think he's never going to have the courage to admit what he did and what he did with my mother's body. He will take that knowledge to the grave with him, and that is very selfish.

"My only hope is that he dies a very slow and painful death, and I am not a nasty person, but it is the way I feel about him."

Miss Giles knows Bowen will be released eventually, but hopes not for a very long time.

"I don't think he will get parole but I'll be extremely aggrieved and cheated if he does any time soon," she said.

"It is just the fact he would be out enjoying his life, having destroyed my mother's."

 

'Mum is on my mind every day'

MISS Giles thinks about her mother every day, and the stresses and strains of first, her disappearance, then Michael Bowen's arrest, trial and failed appeal, made her ill.

"What happened is at the forefront of my mind. I remember every day, every second, everything," she said.

"Had she lived, mum would have been 69 in June. We were very close and my older two children used to spend a lot of time with them down there (in Monmouthshire) on holidays. But my youngest boy missed out on all of that, and that seems very unfair.

"My grandparents were very influential when I was growing up and the children have missed out.

"I've had counselling and became quite poorly at first. But I got past that and moved on, and I am well.

"I have my wobbly moments like on birthdays and anniversaries, and my first grandchild is due this year. Mum should be here with me, sharing that.

"When I think back to it all, the disappearance, the court case, and the appeal, which extended the agony, I was always hoping they would find out, or he would admit it, or the body would be found.

"If it had not been for my husband at the time, Tony Coombes, and his support and understanding, I don't know how I would have been.

"I had to stay focused because I had children, and they still needed their mum.

"As time has gone on, it's not as painful as it was, and at some point anger took over from grief."

'I don't believe killer's story'

IN 2002, Bowen finally admitted responsibility for his wife's death.

But Miss Giles says she does not believe the story he gave to police, that they had gone to his fishing boat where during a fight, he hit her and she fell overboard.

"I still don't understand why he even came out with that, because we knew that was not possible," said Miss Giles.

"Whether he was just trying to make himself feel good, I don't know. But the way he has played it, it has all been about him."