‘I was on brink of insanity’: Milly Dowler’s mother collapses in court after revealing how she begged police to hypnotise her ‘to remember her last movements’

Milly Dowler’s mother was led wailing from court yesterday as the enduring agony of losing her daughter spilled out in tears.
Sally Dowler told a jury she had been ‘driven to the brink of insanity’ by the 13-year-old’s kidnap and murder nine years ago – and spoke for the first time in public about the image that haunted her afterwards.
Two months after Milly disappeared, Mrs Dowler phoned police in the early hours to question whether she had seen her daughter standing with some boys on her way home from school that day.

Happy: Milly, left, sister Gemma and parents Bob and Sally are all smiles in 2002 as they enjoy family holiday. Tragedy later struck when Milly disappeared near their home in Surrey and was murdered

Tears: Milly Dowler’s mother, Sally (left) and her father, Bob (right), arrive at the Old Bailey today to give evidence in the trial of Levi Bellfield who is accused of their daughter’s murder
She had been driving herself mad to recall if the image was real or imagined, she said – and had pleaded to be hypnotised in the desperate hope it would help police to find her.

Emotional: Sally Dowler breaks down in tears at the trial of Levi Bellfield today
By then the ponytailed schoolgirl had been murdered, stripped naked and dumped in a lonely patch of woodland.
Her remains were to lie there for another four months before the mystery of her disappearance could be solved.
The nightmare of uncertainly and the horror of that discovery led her to have a nervous breakdown, she said.
Mrs Dowler’s distressing testimony and dramatic exit came under cross-examination in a witness box at the Old Bailey as she was forced to relive the day Milly vanished.
She had to be supported on the arms of her husband and two court officials after the pain of those months following March 2002 was rekindled.
Her court ordeal began when she was asked about a ‘suicide-type’ letter and a poem Milly wrote, suggesting the teenager was tormented by believing she was ‘ugly’.

It also emerged that Milly thought her parents favoured older sister Gemma.
Mrs Dowler broke down in tears when asked if the suggestion – which she denied – was true.

She was also questioned about an email account Milly used to access chatrooms and send messages to friends.

Accused: Levi Bellfield, 42, (right) denies abducting and murdering Milly (left) after she disappeared near her home in Walton-on-Thames station, Surrey, in March 2002
The teenager created a username beginning ‘sexmeslow’. Mrs Dowler said she had asked her to change it when she found out.
The 51-year-old teacher gave her evidence under the gaze of the man accused of snatching Milly as she walked home from school in Surrey to her home at Walton-on-Thames.
Convicted serial killer Levi Bellfield, a 42-year-old former bouncer and wheelclamper, denies Milly’s kidnap and murder.
Yesterday in answer to questions from Jeffrey Samuels QC, defending, Mrs Dowler agreed she had woken up in May 2002 with a vision of Milly that had been preying on her mind.

Tragic schoolgirl: Milly plays the saxophone and uses the ironing board in images released by her family

Mourning: Father Robert, sister Gemma and mother Sally at Milly’s funeral
She phoned a police family liaison officer to say she recalled seeing Milly at 4.30pm on the day the girl vanished.
Mrs Dowler had been driving home from Milly’s school, where she taught maths, when she thought she caught a ‘fleeting glimpse’ in the rear view mirror of her daughter with some boys.
In a report, the officer noted Mrs Dowler ‘asked if this was correct or something she imagined’ and begged three times to be hypnotised in case she had left anything out.
If it was correct, she had said, could it be confirmed there was a group of boys in the area?

The report continued: ‘She now thinks she might be imaging [sic] this. She has asked to be hypnotised. This is the third request.’
Asked yesterday to explain her confusion, she said: ‘I really, honestly felt on the brink of insanity at that stage. My mind was going over and over it again, trying to remember the minutiae of the detail.
‘I was driving myself mad trying to recall it. I’d had such a bad night. I needed to be hypnotised – I was so desperate to recall something.’
The trial continues.