Oh
Littlehampton on the Sussex coast on a
summers day
it was here that Sarah and Michael Payne
brought their four children on July the
1st 2000 was a lovely days sunny it was
hot was about 7:00 in the evening I
suppose got down to the beach and the
children wanted to stay at the beach so
we stayed for a little while it was a
day out to see their grandparents who
lived a few hundred yards away hard to
believe that what happened that day
would have such shocking repercussions
then the voicex place stay and the girls
asked if they could stay and normally I
would have just said even odd features
empty so I said yes
you know wrongly but I said yes mum and
dad left their four children Sarah her
sister and two brothers on the beach and
went for an evening stroll stopping off
at the local pub on the way back
I shouldn't have left on the beach I did
I didn't get home as a parent you make
decisions no matter what and you have to
live with those decisions unfortunately
but that is what I LIF it the walk back
to their grandparents Terry and Leslie
across fields and down a country lane
should have taken the children no more
than a couple of minutes from the time
we left the house to Tommy got back was
about and out got back to the house and
um this just looked at me in a strange
way if it Sarah with you and I said no
and it was that immediate panic I went
up to the end of the lane but I just
sensed that she definitely wouldn't have
gone any further than that
so then it was back to Long Lane that
was calling all the time shouts a long
time
we just kept looking you know when you
lose your child in the supermarket and
you can't find them that you kind of
know that around the next corner it was
like that be intensified ooh it felt
wrong to be honest I thought she was
hurt somewhere Lee the pains
thirteen-year-old son had been the last
person to see Sarah as they crossed the
field towards their grandparents house
Lee said that his sister had stumbled
then disappeared from view
he'd seen something else too only knows
cars and he knows fans McCann and he's
got a very good memory he said to me
that he'd seen a white van and they
turned out to be the best witness that
we had that was just beginning to get
dusk and so I was terrified of the dark
and there's no way she'd want to be
outside in the dark there's just no way
so that's when I made the call so much
problem my first night you know doing
everything that Mary called for now all
right was she playing with anybody and
her little sister and she thought looked
away from them
and listen every minute was unique like
ticking clock it's just awful I don't
think any of us slept that night truly
believed that we would get on in fact I
never doubted it for one second in the
immediate hours after Sarah's
disappearance police were keeping an
open mind
had she just wandered off soon to be
found or had something more sinister
happened in his statement to police Lee
Payne said that not only had he seen a
white van he also gave a description of
what the driver looked like it was a man
unshaven with yellow teeth and wearing a
check shirt at that time I was a
detective inspector in the Hampton area
and had responsibility for a range of
functions including gathering
intelligence on criminals and the
management of sex offenders the briefing
that I gave my team was that they were
to knock on the doors of the sex
offenders who might have committed an
offense like this who in those
circumstances tend to be very compliant
they'll do what they're told
ask them where they were when Sarah gone
missing and hopefully with their consent
as she get into their flat house and
search it the day following Sarah
Payne's disappearance and a massive
search was underway
there were helicopters and police and
people from the village I think there
was two three hundred volunteers just
people coming from everywhere I just
just look but I just didn't think anyone
could harm I just felt that she would
have talked anyone out of her yeah
Sunday evening and police knocked on the
front door of a 41 year old car mechanic
who lived a few hundred yards from the
Littlehampton seafront police wanted to
know his whereabouts when Sara had gone
missing his name was Roy white him he
said he'd been in little Hampton he
traveled across to the Brighton Hove
area to a funfair and then traveled
straight back but the sort of answers
that he was giving were very nervous
ones so they came away and just went
around the corner and telephoned my
sergeant who telephoned me in the
meantime whiting came out from his
address went around the corner to South
Terrace the seafront Road to a white van
whiting had bought the white Fiat van
just a few days before Sarah's
disappearance police also had doubts
about his alibi which didn't seem to add
up
he claimed he'd driven straight back
from Brighton yet in his van was a
receipt from a petrol station put him
ten miles north of the route he said he
had taken to get home what basis did we
arrest him nervousness on his part he
gave us an alibi that we weren't happy
with so we were stretching things as it
was to get him in custody but there was
another reason why Roy whiting was a
suspect in 1995 whiting had been
convicted for an indecent assault on an
eight year-old girl in Crawley 35 miles
away
cruising around the town on a winter's
afternoon he had bundled the girl into
his car before taking her to a wooded
area and assaulting her he'd then
dropped her home
Roy whiting was well known to Paul
Williams it interviewed him in little
Hampton when he was released from prison
after serving half of his 5-year
sentence this is a man who had committed
a serious predatory offense against a
little girl just had no appreciation or
understand it really what he done why he
had done it and whether he would do it
again after his release whiting had been
seen hanging around a local swimming
pool police put him under surveillance
in case he tried to commit another
offense my conclusion was he posed a
significant risk I didn't put it in
terms of high medium or low there had to
be a child so he would do that again Roy
whiting was just one of hundreds of sex
offenders questioned about Sarah Payne's
disappearance desperate to find her her
parents appealed to whoever might be
holding their daughter someone's got an
extra child somehow yeah or whatever you
in touch with local police you know look
around you everybody everybody just look
around you as Sarah's parents made their
appeal Roy whiting was being questioned
right well why think it's interviewed
the problem is there's not a great deal
to interview him about we've still just
got a missing girl
wasn't the very mushy walking
for what stage did you decide that you
open that you're going to take her
I mean was it was a planned thing or was
it an instantaneous act what was it
over three days of questioning Roy
whiting maintained a defiant no comment
there was nothing the police could do my
experience has led me to absolutely no
there's only one way to investigate
something and that is to keep an open
mind at all times is there anything that
you don't understand about what I've
asked you over the past few days
there was strong circumstantial evidence
but we didn't have enough evidence to
charge him Roy whiting was released but
police kept hold of his van they wanted
to carry out forensic tests on its
contents meanwhile the search for the
missing eight-year-old Sarah Payne
carried on just didn't feel right just
felt wrong
they were just loud and noisy just a
normal family and two boys two girls and
so they were kind of like why haven't
you got a year back cake you're the
person that we trust why isn't she home
and I could not so I just kept saying to
be home soon she'd be home soon that's
all I could say July the fourth 2000 it
was now 72 hours in Sarah Payne had gone
missing
while on a day out to the Sussex coast
with her family the search for the
eight-year-old girl was now nationwide
and becoming increasingly desperate
there were even reports that she had
been cited more than 200 miles away in
Cheshire I walked in on day three of the
inquiry and that's when I first met
Sarah
there was no margin for error with Sarah
pain her daughter was alive and all 500
different jobs that we don't have to do
in trying to go into Sarah none of us
were ever allowed to talk about anything
other than Sarah coming home alive we
always imagined every time we looked at
a camera that Sarah was looking back and
that if she could see doubt in our minds
she would work worried and should be
scared which I'll endure stay as
positive as we possibly can you know
sorry if you're watching mommy love you
and we're looking for you talking to
find you we're gonna find you can you be
home you'd be home dubbing yeah I'm
still hopeful keep a tranquila spirit
something to sunlight but I remember
when we walked out the press conference
a police officer in an informal chat
really made reference the fact I think
he use the words God forbid if the worst
has happened and sorrowed absolutely
exploded and said you know don't ever
talk about that in front of me wouldn't
allow anyone to say that anywhere near
me that she thought go away take it away
I don't need anything negative or
anything nah see she doesn't need to see
that and I don't need to hear it because
I didn't want that getting through to
her codenamed Operation maple the search
for Sarah Payne was and still is the
biggest investigation that Sussex Police
has ever mounted bigger even than the
Brighton bomb nearly 1/3 of its officers
were involved in the hunt for the
missing schoolgirl it was a massive job
no question about it massive it cost 3
million pounds which is a significant
amount of money I would do briefings in
the morning with detectives and there'd
be 90 officers following his initial
arrest and questioning Roy whiting left
little Hampton he remained the prime
suspect and his van was still being
examined
but police lacked any firm evidence to
link him with Sarah Payne's
disappearance whiting returned to
Crawley scene of his earlier offence
against an 8 year old girl to live with
his father he was now under
round-the-clock surveillance
the primary reason for putting him under
surveillance was that if Sarah was alive
he could lead us to her she could have
been in a building sub owner you know
locked up in a caravan somewhere he also
could have got rid of the clothes or
some other evidence I didn't want him to
leave the country I wanted to know where
he was
24-day as with all major hunts for
missing children
police were running the media campaign
hoping that the daily coverage would jog
someone's memory but that meant coming
up with new angles and fresh stories to
keep Sarah Payne's disappearance in the
public eye I said we're playing a game
here we have got to keep this in the
news it gets your daughter back his
souls my inquiry every day we need a new
angle to the star otherwise we stop
going on to take there I knew that this
was the only way to keep Sarah in
people's hearts and minds and until she
was brought home that's exactly what I
was going to do
Sarah if you're watching please come on
family's not saying without you it's the
massive gap in between everybody our
little princess has been not with us for
two whole weeks now
we miss her terribly every day he gets a
little bit harder every hour gets a
little bit harder what I had to do was I
had to give everyone looking into a TV
set and everyone reading a paper my
daughter and that's why I did it because
I knew it was the only way I could make
people want to help I didn't want them
to see a child on the screen in front of
them and think oh I wanted them to
become part of it I wanted them to hurt
as much as I was hurting so they
searched as hard as I searched
ironically just as we were running out
of ideas to keep in the news that
Sarah's body was found on Monday morning
July the 17th 2000 in a field opposite
Bryn's berry college 15 miles from
little Hampton came reports of the
discovery of a little girl's body I was
at little Hanson police station with
most of my team at that point and we
heard that a body had been found
just off the a29 Road
remember the public had been walking
through the field and had stumbled
across a body in a shallow grave so I
gathered my team together and we sped up
there and I initially took charge of the
scene
the way it was explained to me was her
body's been found it's a little girl and
so is the only one that's missing
I was just and it's like slow motion I
can still see it all in like this slow
motion with no sound and really to be
honest I don't think I really had time
to absorb it or take it in
sarah had not been buried very well she
had been exposed to the elements for 17
days and what was there wasn't a small
child that's the only way I can put it
it's what nightmares made of no police
officer ever wants to work on an on a
child murder it's yeah we're all parents
right from the start despite Sarah's
emotive pleas and fantastic heartfelt
belief that her daughter was alive most
of us knew she wasn't and so we were
already gearing up for the scenario of
Sarah being found dead long before that
body was found
it was now a murder inquiry a hunt for a
killer a search for evidence and clues
however small the body was just over
there five yards away
there was a full forensic team there was
every ologist known to men that was here
just to try and get some sort of
forensic evidence one of the saddest
days ever following the discovery of
Sarah's body the public's response
threatened to overwhelm the
investigation
we had a thousand messages coming in a
day from the public I couldn't possibly
read a thousand last year so we had a
timid detectives prioritizing those
messages into ABC everybody wants to
help you've got to sort out the wood
from the trees
amid all the less useful information
coming in much of it just tying up
resources one find was to prove hugely
significant
Deborah Bray lived three miles away from
the murder scene
two days after Sarah had disappeared
there was a little shoe in the middle of
the road which was brand new and it had
lasted me I thought some little one from
coulomb school had probably threatened
about the car window and it must have
been there three or four days it's when
it wasn't there anymore I assumed that
maybe someone had picked it up two weeks
later and Deborah Bray heard on the
radio about the discovery of Sarah's
body in a nearby field and recalled
seeing the little shoe in the middle of
the road when the body was found I rang
the police straightaway and whoever it
was on the phone said well well can you
go and see I walked down the road I'm
looking for the shoe and found it in
amongst the grass in under the hedge
right away
so it'd been knocked but away by cars
passing it took quite a lot of looking
for I picked it up very gingerly with my
little finger and took it back to the
car and then drove to brings burry where
I knew the police were it would be
several weeks before anyone realized the
significance of what Deborah Bray had
found
I'm senior forensic biologist in the
forensic science service and I deal with
usually offenses against the person so
murder rape and in this case the
abduction of a little girl like the
police raid Chapman and his team were
overwhelmed with information and at
first the hunt for clues seemed to be
going nowhere there's pressure in the
sense that police want things very
quickly but they also know how many
items they've submitted to the
laboratory and in this case in total it
was over 500 items submitted so they do
have some idea that things are gonna
have to take a little while July xx and
Sarah's family visit the site where her
body was discovered Oh Sarah to be
remembered I wanted everyone to remember
what happened to this little girl when
she went and played on the field
I didn't want her just to disappear into
to nothingness and for all those people
that had help search help look and
written to us for them to forget we had
pretty good information from police
sources lesson you know make no bones
about it that this was almost certainly
the work of a you know a local predatory
high-risk pedophile the important thing
was that out there were an extraordinary
large number of people who to a greater
or lesser degree posed a threat to the
safety the welfare even the lives of
children and so out of that evolved very
quickly the idea that we should liaise
with Sarah and her family and see
whether or not they would want to join
us in a campaign it was time that
somebody stood up and said you know if
you can't keep them in prison and if you
can't monitor these people you better
start letting us know that they're there
so we took polls we conducted some polls
and they came in it between eighty and
ninety percent of the people who were
polled who said yes we believe these
people should be identified they should
be named they should be shamed the
decision to publish the names and the
faces of 50 pedophiles convicted of
offenses against children was massively
controversial critics accused the news
of the world of inciting vigilante
justice I'm sure enough there were
attacks not just on those who had been
convicted of offenses against children
innocent people were also targeted
including in South Wales a female
pediatrician whom protesters had
confused as a pedophile but the news of
the world campaign touched a nerve all
over the country I don't blame them for
being angry the way that they were
I'm not surprised they demonstrated in
the way they were and I'm not surprised
they were as angry as they were and I
think to be honest had it been me at
that time
I probably would have reacted in exactly
the same way
more than 1 million people signed a
petition demanding that the government
changed the law disclosing the
whereabouts of Nodin pedophiles
the demands for a so-called Sera's law a
lasting tribute to Sarah pain continued
as for Roy whiting the prime suspect for
Sarah's murder police were about to get
the break they'd been hoping for it was
never a manhunt for Roy whiting from the
beginning Roy white thing just kept
coming up just okay was there from the
start and it just didn't go away
following the discovery of Sarah Payne's
body Roy whiting the prime suspect in
the case had gone on the run but was
still under surveillance he had left his
father's house in Crawley where he'd
committed a previous offense against a
young girl after bricks were thrown
through the window whiting was now
sleeping rough but in the small hours of
Sunday the 23rd of July 6 days after
Sarah Payne's body had been discovered
things were to change dramatically a
white Vauxhall Nova was reported stolen
in Crawley was seen to go to this
vehicle he was seen to change the plates
the number plates and then he was seen
to drive off a patrol car was diverted
to stop the Vauxhall and it's driver
none other than Roy whiting so a
decision was made for a marked vehicle
to to stop him and at that point the
chase started in a desperate bid to get
away at one stage whiting reversed the
Vauxhall down a dual carriageway
one mile in it vehicles now go use self
self London Road on the carriageway
my cell past the earth BP dodged like a
absolute maniac he could cause the death
of someone
County are industrial estates
right right right right into an unmade
road going down to the boardwalk
more police were now in pursuit Whiting
then dumped the stolen Vauxhall and ran
off across field but he was then
arrested by other officers as far as I
was concerned
whiting being arrested was manna from
heaven I was delighted to see that he
was then remanded in custody because
then I knew where he was he was going
nowhere and he couldn't abduct another
child he couldn't assault another child
or couldn't
god forbid murder another child whiting
was sent to prison for the theft of the
car in custody the police had time to
question him but they were under intense
pressure to get results from the very
top I've never worked something quarry
where Downing Street phone up for an
update but that's what was happening you
know every week we get a phone call
saying the promises asking what's
happening with the certified case and
slowly but surely the investigation was
making progress
the focus was now on a minut examination
of the black shoe that had been found in
a hedgerow close to where Sarah's body
had been buried the usual way of
retaining fibers is to use a piece of
sellotape and then the stickiness of the
tape will pick up any fibers there on
the outside of the clothing you can't do
that with a velcro strap because the
velcro will just hold up to the fibers
so a system had to sit down and
carefully pick off each fiber
individually using this pair of forceps
so that took quite a while and we ended
up with two or three hundred fibers
rounded up individually a Belk wrote in
my book is the most wonderful material
in the entire world for catching
murderers because the fibers stick to it
like there's no tomorrow
and however that the shoe is mistreated
and rained upon that and kicked about
and run over that fibers are still there
on August the 31st the funeral of Sarah
Payne took place at her local church in
Hershel in Surrey there was very much a
girl she wanted dresses on and didn't
much houses everyone bought her pink
ability to forgiving her ability to love
I think were just fantastic when we
buried her we gave her the funeral that
a princess should have because I'd never
give her the wedding that she could have
that's why the funeral became as it was
just wrote to Sarah dear Sarah ever
since you came bounding into our lives
it 2:00 in the morning with no phone in
the house one tooth in your head and a
smile that no ice we loved you you were
a joy that made our lives fall daddy
called you princess because that's just
what you are despite all the
circumstantial evidence against Roy
whiting the police still didn't have
enough evidence to charge him with
Sarah's murder hopes were pinned on the
forensic scientists they spent five
months analyzing samples taken from the
velcro on Sarah's shoe and comparing
them with items found in Whiting's van
among them his red sweatshirt found in
the front seat the shoe was paramount
this little tiny ladybird shoe that had
been kicked up and down the road for
days and days and weeks it was the key
to the conviction of Roy whiting the
real breakthrough was when we found a
fiber on the velcro strap that matched
the fibers that made up the fabric of
the red sweatshirt in the van now we did
that by comparing the two fibers under a
comparison microscope one of these
slides has sample of fibers from
the red sweatshirt found in Roy
Whiting's van put that on the one side
of the microscope the other slide
contains fibers picked off from the shoe
which is thought to be from Sarah Payne
so these are the fibers that are trapped
on the velcro we put that down the other
side of the comparison microscope so
what you can see on the monitor now is a
red fiber taken from Sarah Payne's shoe
and on the monitor you can see the exact
shade of red and you might just be able
to make out very small particles within
the fiber that stop it being too shiny
on the other side we have a fiber from
the red sweatshirt that was found in Roy
Whiting's van and you can see that it's
exactly the same shade of red it's got
the same cross-section and it also has
the small particles that stop the fibers
becoming too shiny over the next few
weeks further tests confirmed the
initial results the fiber from the shoe
had come from the red sweatshirt found
in Roy Whiting's van each one of those
processes takes four weeks so you can
imagine it's not like CSI it's a long
long slow process and it takes a long
time it's frustrating and it's
heart-wrenching your time
that link between sarah's shoe and
Whiting's red sweatshirt was just the
first breakthrough once the red
sweatshirt was indicated by the fibers I
could then go ahead and test all the
hair that we found on the sweatshirt
which amounted to 40 hairs which is an
awful lot of DNA testing to do on one
item but in the end it was worth it
because although 39 of those hairs gave
no DNA profile whatsoever one single
hair gave a profile that match fully
back to Sarah Payne the scientific
evidence was totally crucial the entire
length of the inquiry I've been keeping
in fighting to keep an open mind
fighting everyone else to keep an open
mind but now but now I knew I knew Roy
whiting had killed Sarah Payne
definitely on February the 6th 2001 Roy
whiting was arrested while in prison
when about to complete his sentence for
the earlier theft of the car and brought
back to Sussex
was never a case of getting anybody for
murdering Sarah I didn't want anybody in
prison I wanted to know the personal
into prison was definitely the person
100% sure absolutely no doubts no really
I'm watching I'm detective Sergeant
Hinchcliffe and I'm going to charge you
you are charged with the offenses that
I'm going to read out below you don't
have to say anything but it may harm
your defense if you do not mention now
something which you later rely on in
court I wanted to be able to look at
that man in the eye for a jury to be
able to say you're guilty and for a
judge to be able to say you going to
prison and after that for him to go and
rot in hell as far as I'm concerned and
just never ever be seen or heard of
again
you are charged Alai mm at Kingston
Northwest oh six you were lawfully took
or carried away Sara evening Isabelle
pain against her will and that's
contrary to common law you are also
charged that between Saturday the first
of July 2001 day the 3rd of July 2000 at
Kingston grass West Sussex or elsewhere
you murdered Sara evening is about pain
on November the 13th 2001 Roy whiting
faced a jury at Louis Crown Court
I was about to see the man that had
murdered my daughter
I threw up about two three times in the
morning I had had nightmares for I don't
know how long and when he came up from
the cells and he was this little dirty
unkempt man that wasn't a monster that
wasn't this thing that I could possibly
ever be scared of in my life and I knew
that the only reason that that man picks
on children is because there is no way
an adult would have him anywhere near
him before the jury Whiting claimed he
knew nothing about Sarah's disappearance
he claimed he'd forgotten precise
details of his movements that night and
said he'd been set up by the police I
have never been as confident of getting
a conviction from anyone
but after three days with the jury being
out I didn't quite have that confidence
I was with Sarah when we got called back
into court we went into court don't
think I've ever been quite as nervous as
I was at that particular stage and this
wonderful young for woman of the jury
she was asked how did you find the
defendant and she said in the clearest
loudest voice guilty and that was such a
relief
when they came through with guilty I
remember a woman on that on the jury
just she just cried just absolute cried
and for me it was a sense of relief
absolute relief and then the judge went
into all the details the absolute
details of his previous and that was
just horrendous before passing sentence
Judge Richard Curtis told whiting you
are and will remain an absolute menace
to any little girl and you are every
parents and grandparents nightmare come
true then he made the revelation that
the psychiatrist who had seen whiting
after his previous attack had warned
that he was a high-risk repeat offender
Sara's murder had proved the
psychiatrist's right
the judge said hearing that stuck a
knife with him rightly thing absolutely
it was like somebody telling me what
happened to my daughter
moments after whiting was taken to the
cells Sahra and Michael Payne faced the
world's media this doesn't make us happy
but justice has been done
Sarah can rest in peace now but let's
make sure that this stops happening time
and time again people are being let out
of prison when everybody concerned knows
that this is going to happen again
Sarah Michael can you describe that
moment when you heard the verdict I
thought of Sarah and nothing else the
judge recommended that whiting spend the
rest of his life in prison I know that
there are bad people out there I know
that it was a case of you know wrong
place wrong time for her what I was
absolutely devastated and what really
knocked me flying was the fact that he'd
done it before I am told constantly that
it doesn't happen very often but I am
constantly reminding if any happens to
one child it's too many since the death
of her daughter in July 2000 abducted
and then murdered while on a family day
out
Sarah Payne has fought tirelessly for a
change in the law for parents schools
and carers to have the right to know
that convicted paedophiles are in their
local area the government has now agreed
that a trial version of the so-called
Sarah's law will be introduced in four
areas of England
Sera's law is basically it's about
predatory pedophiles it's about people
who are all waiting if a predator lives
in your community you should be able to
go and ask and somebody should tell you
that years there or she is there over
the years Sara Payne has tackled anyone
with influence to get what she believes
in and provide a lasting tribute to her
daughter if I had known Roy whiting
lived in that area there is no way my
children would have been out to play
that would have saved my daughter's life
the Knights knocking on the door of
whiting and and arrested him we went to
probably ten other houses to speak the
sex offenders I'm not saying any one of
those could have committed this offense
but there are a lot of sex offenders
today there are 30,000 people on the sex
offenders register but that figure
doesn't take account of the thousands of
others who may have committed offenses
and gone undetected how do you
effectively monitor those numbers do you
put certain 24/7 surveillance teams onto
them sounds great but the resource
implications are just looking at one sex
offender to that level of scrutiny
today Sarah Payne is returning to Lewis
Crown Court the first time she's been
back there since Roy whiting was
convicted for her daughter's murder in
December 2001 talking to court
volunteers about how to deal with the
victims of crime yes the events of the
last few years have taken their toll on
Sarah Payne she lost her daughter and
she and her husband Michael are now
divorced stuff like Davis there as well
many people have said to me why don't
you just walk away or sort of see a
price is too high
the point is if everyone does that then
nothing ever changes you know it's it's
like I believe I'm doing this because I
believe it's the right thing to do she's
sharing a platform with Martin Underhill
Tosh one of the senior detectives
involved in the case to talk about their
own experiences and the lessons to be
drawn from one of this country's most
notorious murder investigations I mean
many families on a daily basis and I
mean many families throughout the course
of my work where because they're not
treated in the same way as we learned
they are very fallen and very broken and
a lot of that's to do with the fact that
they weren't listened to or they didn't
get justice Tosh and I had a very honest
relationship I had all touched in a very
very early days please please be honest
don't lie to me honesty is most
definitely the best policy don't you
think most difficult time I had with
Saira was the honesty of the royal icing
he was rested on the Sunday the day
after Sarah went missing it wasn't the
first Solomon arrested it was the fact
that this man had done it before and we
had to tell her and there were a lot of
tears and a lot of anger and she
actually said to me I know exactly what
he did and that was awful that was a
very difficult moment it was horrible to
hear but I had to know the details and
have Martin lied to me at that point
that would have been the end of our
relationship was actually taken I wasn't
sure
in the years since Roy whiting was
convicted for the murder of Sarah Payne
and sent to prison for life there are
still unanswered questions to this day
whiting has always refused to cooperate
with the police the sad thing is at the
moment we don't know how exactly Sarah
died or why I writes him every year on
the anniversary of his conviction and
ask him if he was prepared to speak to
the police so far he has never responded
to those letters but we will continue
writing those letters for the
foreseeable future
because I think the family and the
police force have a right to know what
happened
I'm used to having that pain in my life
so there's it's it's duller than it was
but it's always there
it's silly things that said it off such
silly things it's things like just
before Christmas I walked ran to the
shop and there was a young lad there
who's well they're 16 they're 17 and
he's so tall and he was saying was kind
of boyfriend if you like it you know
their first little boyfriend in school
and it was just oh so upset when all
about just couldn't help but cry because
I've been robbed of her
