|
Kill Total: |
1 |
Kill place: |
Pulborough, West Sussex |
|
Kill date: |
1st July 2000 |
Victim(s): |
Sarah Payne |
|
Date of Birth: |
26 January 1959 |
Marital Status: |
unknown |
|
AKA: |
n/a |
Occupation: |
Car mechanic |
1st July 2000 The Payne family went to visit
Sarah's grandparents at Kingston Gorse on the South Coast.
After walking on the beach, Sarah went with her sister and
two brothers to play in a cornfield.
They chased each other in a game of hide and seek, until
Sarah got a knock on the head and decided to walk back to
her grandparents' home. She disappeared through a
gap in the hedge. Her brothers Lee and Luke followed, only
seconds behind. But by the time they reached the lane,
Sarah had disappeared.
Lee saw a white van coming down the road towards him, its
wheels spinning. The driver seemed in a hurry to get away.
As he drove past, he grinned and waved at Lee, who later
described him as scruffy, with yellowish teeth.
Unknown to the boys, the man behind the wheel had just
abducted Sarah. It was the last time that anyone other
than the killer saw her alive.
17th July 2000
A farm labourer found a girl's body in a field near
Pulborough, 15 miles from the village of Kingston
Gorse (near Littlehampton) where Sarah had disappeared.
The following day, forensic science tests confirmed that
the body was Sarah's, and the Sussex Police began a murder
investigation.
As the search turned into a murder hunt, suspicion quickly
fell on Roy Whiting, a local man and a known paedophile.
He had already served a four-year prison sentence for
abducting a nine-year-old girl. And he had a white van.
When questioned by police about Sarah's disappearance, he
said he did not know where she was, and claimed he had
been at a funfair in Hove.
7 February 2001
Roy Whiting is remanded in custody after being formally
charged with the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Payne.
Heavy police security is needed as a crowd of more than
200 people besiege the courtroom for the 42 year-olds appearance.
14th November 2001
Trial begins at Lewes crown
court in Sussex.
The jury heard from many
witnesses, including Sarah's brother Lee, who had seen the
van. The case used a huge amount of forensic evidence,
many experts from several area were used.
It was estimated that the
cost of the investigation involved a thousand personnel
and cost more than £2 million.
12 December 2001 - The verdict
Roy Whiting sentenced to life for the murder and
kidnapping of eight-year-old Sarah Payne in July 2000. The
jury of nine men and three women at Lewes Crown Court
delivered a unanimous decision on the serial sex offender
after a trial lasting almost four weeks. The judge
recommended that Whiting is never released from prison.
17 December 2001
There's been criticism of Judge John Gower who sentenced
Roy Whiting to four years in prison on a previous occasion
when he abducted a young girl. Whiting served just two and
a half years in prison before being released and
subsequently murdering Sarah Payne.
4 August 2002,
Whiting was attacked with a razor by another prisoner at
Wakefield Prison. Convicted killer Rickie Tregaskis was
found guilty of carrying out the slashing which left
Whiting with a six-inch scar on his right cheek.
24 November 2002,
Home Secretary David Blunkett made a landmark ruling,
ordering that Roy Whiting must serve a minimum of 50 years
in prison. This would make him ineligible for parole until
2051, when he would be 92 years old.
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