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Britain's Most Evil Killers S02E05 Roy Whiting
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00:00On Saturday July the 1st, 2000, eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne was snatched from the street in front of her grandparents' house at Littlehampton in West Sussex.
00:14For the next fortnight, the whole of the UK was gripped as the police desperately searched for the little girl.
00:22Everybody wants to find that child because a missing child is every parent's worst nightmare.
00:30But Sarah would never be found.
00:33She had been abducted and murdered by a 41-year-old convicted paedophile called Roy Whiting.
00:40This was a girl he didn't know who fell into the hands of what could only be described as a monster.
00:47Whiting was the number one suspect, but the police had no evidence and had to release him back into the public.
00:55I mean, I had nightmares about it.
00:58I literally had nightmares over the first few weeks.
01:02What happens if he takes the third child?
01:05The whole of the UK wanted to see justice served upon Roy Whiting, one of Britain's most evil killers.
01:13It was a new story that broke hearts across the nation.
01:40When the body of Sarah Payne was found on the 17th of July, 2000, it brought the search for the eight-year-old girl to a devastating end.
01:52She had been missing for over two weeks after being snatched from the street by a known paedophile called Roy Whiting.
01:59The search for the blonde schoolgirl had captivated the whole of Britain.
02:08Soft, gentle little girl.
02:14She hasn't got a horrible bone in her body.
02:18Somebody out there must have seen her.
02:22They must have seen her on that road.
02:25They must have seen her.
02:26Sky News anchorman Jeremy Thompson was just one of those following the story.
02:34The scale of the search was huge right across the country.
02:39Everybody was looking for Sarah Payne, hoping that they might help police to find her.
02:44In the end, of course, as so often happens in these sort of cases,
02:48the perpetrator was right under the police's nose, just a few miles away from where Sarah Payne had gone missing.
02:56It was a case that affected everyone involved, including lead detective Martin Underhill.
03:05That picture shows innocence.
03:07It also shows happiness.
03:09Those eyes, those beautiful eyes that are smiling at you, actually,
03:13they showed completeness, and all that was taken away,
03:17and her photo will live forever.
03:20The murderer, 41-year-old Roy Whiting, had long been suspected as her killer,
03:27but it took over seven months to gather all the evidence needed to finally put him behind bars.
03:34He was a loser.
03:35He was a loner, and he'll always be remembered for the wrong reasons,
03:39which is he was a monster who killed a little girl.
03:43This killer's story begins almost 60 years ago.
03:49Whiting was born on January the 26th, 1959, in Horsham in West Sussex,
03:56and he grew up in nearby Crawley.
04:01It was a family that was beset by quite a lot of tragedy,
04:05so there were six children, and three of them died in infancy,
04:09so an awful lot of trauma to cope with quite early on in his life.
04:15Life for the young man didn't get any easier.
04:19Whiting's parents, George and Pamela, divorced when he was in his teens.
04:24Roy Whiting left school without any qualifications whatsoever.
04:28He was somebody who didn't really get along in school.
04:32He wasn't particularly academic.
04:34He didn't really fit in at all, whether socially or in terms of his studies,
04:39so he was always a bit of an outcast.
04:42Whiting was clearly a bit of an oddball, a loner.
04:47Friends described him as a bit of a Billy No-Mates.
04:53When you combine that with the insecure attachments he had within the family,
04:59the lack of relationship with his mother,
05:02the disrupted relationship with his father,
05:04it does start to write a bit of a script.
05:07As he entered adulthood, Whiting found a passion for cars,
05:14and he began working in a local garage.
05:18In 1986, he married a woman he'd met when she was working as an attendant
05:23at a petrol station, and they had a child together,
05:27but they separated very soon after the birth of that child
05:30and ended up getting divorced.
05:32By 1990, 31-year-old Whiting was living alone in his hometown of Crawley.
05:41It's pretty clear to me that Whiting developed an increasing interest
05:46in young girls, girls in their early years.
05:52And he, I'm sure, fought to some extent to control that obsession.
05:58Peterfield is actually a sexual social disorder
06:03that manifests itself in deviant behaviour.
06:06That's what it is.
06:07It's like you have a disturbance of sexual disorder in your brain,
06:11and instead of doing nothing about it,
06:13you go and you attack kids.
06:17I think he probably recognised it in himself,
06:19but didn't quite know how to handle it.
06:23And so I think you've got that classic mental conflict
06:29that afflicts paedophiles and, indeed, affects serial killers.
06:36Part of them thinks, I want to do it,
06:38and part of them thinks, no, you mustn't.
06:40But Whiting struggled to control his depraved urges.
06:46Eyewitnesses, neighbours, people in the vicinity where he lived,
06:50talked later about how they believed that he was seen quite often
06:56scouting for girls, as somebody said,
07:00that around school going at home time,
07:03that he would set off in his van
07:06and head off to local schools to see what he could see.
07:12So he's probably doing two things at this point in time.
07:15He's fantasising about what he would do
07:18if he was on his own with one of these children.
07:20He's also identifying vulnerabilities.
07:23He's getting familiar with this victim group.
07:26He really is a predator getting ready to pounce on his prey.
07:30At the age of 36,
07:32Whiting couldn't resist his urges any longer.
07:36On the 4th of March, 1995,
07:38he gave in to what you might, I suppose,
07:43describe as the wolf within him
07:45and abducted a young girl.
07:51He literally scooped her up off the street,
07:54took her away to a wooded area
07:55where he sexually assaulted her.
07:57So this was a really horrendous crime.
08:00Soon after the abduction,
08:02Whiting had sold his car to avoid detection,
08:05but the police soon tracked it down
08:07and forensic evidence within
08:10left them with little doubt.
08:13It became abundantly clear to the police
08:15that this was indeed the car
08:17in which the poor girl had been abducted.
08:20They arrested and charged Whiting
08:22with a sexual attack on a young girl.
08:24In June 1995,
08:27Roy Whiting was sentenced to just four years in prison
08:30for the kidnap and assault of a 9-year-old girl.
08:35Before he went to trial,
08:40a psychiatrist examined him
08:42and came to the conclusion
08:43that Whiting was not a paedophile,
08:47that this was a one-off event
08:49and that he was very unlikely to re-offend.
08:53While he was in prison, however,
08:56there was a second psychiatric report
08:58which suggested that not only
09:00was he likely to re-offend again,
09:02but he was certain to effectively,
09:03that this was a man who was obsessed with young girls.
09:11Whiting served just two and a half years off his sentence
09:14and in 1997, he was back on the streets,
09:19albeit with a mark against his name.
09:22He was one of the first people to be placed
09:27on what was then a new thing called the Sex Offenders Register.
09:30Registered sex offenders have to be known to the police
09:34and where they live is important
09:35and there has to be an accurate record of them
09:37and they have to report to the police on a regular basis.
09:40Whiting didn't return to Crawley
09:42and instead headed for Littlehampton
09:44on the south coast of England.
09:46Well, after leaving prison,
09:49Roy Whiting moved to a seaside town,
09:52a town full of families,
09:54a town full of children,
09:55and this was no accident.
09:58And essentially, he tried to blend in
10:00on a superficial level
10:02in terms of jobs,
10:04in terms of appearing to be an average guy.
10:07But this wasn't going to last
10:08because he was very intent
10:11that he was going to offend again.
10:14They know they can never curb the urge.
10:17They can postpone the urge for years,
10:20but they will come again
10:21and they will attack again.
10:23He was quite, I think, ashamed of who he was.
10:26He didn't like himself very much
10:27and he wanted to exert power.
10:29He wanted to exert control
10:31and that's what turned him into the predator he became.
10:34On July the 1st, 2000,
10:41Sarah and Michael Payne
10:42had taken their four children
10:44to Kingston Gorse in Littlehampton
10:46to visit family.
10:48It would be a day
10:49that would change their lives forever.
10:53In the late evening,
10:55eight-year-old Sarah
10:56was playing with her brothers and sister
10:58in a field opposite her grandparents' home
11:01when she suddenly vanished.
11:04It seemed that Sarah
11:06was a few yards behind the others
11:08and they were out playing
11:10and suddenly they looked round
11:13and she was no longer there.
11:15She disappeared.
11:16It was well into the evening
11:18before the family got concerned enough
11:20after they'd searched themselves,
11:22before they raised the alarm.
11:25Sarah's older brother, Lee,
11:27told police that he saw a man
11:29in a white van
11:30speeding away
11:32just after losing sight of his sister.
11:35There was a real possibility
11:37that she'd been snatched.
11:40This was something
11:41that happened very, very quickly.
11:43It was a real blitz abduction.
11:46There was no grooming.
11:47There was no kind of manipulation.
11:50It was something
11:50that happened very, very fast.
11:53The best advice we had
11:54was that a child abducted
11:56by a paedophile
11:57would be dead within six hours.
12:00The police had to work fast.
12:03They needed to track down
12:04the man in the white van.
12:06Their hope was
12:07he would lead them
12:08to the eight-year-old girl
12:10and Sarah Payne
12:11could be brought home alive.
12:13On Saturday, July the 1st, 2000,
12:28eight-year-old Sarah Payne
12:30had been snatched
12:31from just outside
12:32her grandparents' home
12:33in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
12:36Her distraught family
12:38dialed 999.
12:39The call came in
12:43at 9pm on a Saturday night
12:45and by 10,
12:47the balloon had gone up.
12:48And that's a policing term
12:50for you escalate it
12:51right to the top
12:52to the Assistant Chief Constable,
12:54the Deputy Chief Constable.
12:56The balloon goes up.
12:57Everybody's called in.
12:59And within two hours
13:00of Sarah Payne going missing,
13:02there were over 100 cops
13:03involved in the case.
13:06Officers surged
13:07through the night,
13:08but by morning,
13:10they had no luck.
13:11As news broke
13:13across the country,
13:14the media reached
13:15Littlehampton
13:16in their droves.
13:19It's possible
13:19if she'd moved some distance
13:20that she could still
13:21be hidden somewhere.
13:22But we do have to consider
13:23there is a growing possibility
13:25that she has been abducted.
13:28Time is still of the essence
13:28and for that reason
13:29we are prioritizing
13:30that line of inquiry.
13:33It was probably 24 hours
13:35after the little girl
13:38was reported missing
13:39that police started
13:42to put out word
13:44that they were concerned
13:46that there was a missing girl.
13:48Which has the effect
13:50of recruiting
13:51the general public
13:52to be out there
13:53as extra eyes and ears
13:55to perhaps keep an eye out
13:56for this little girl
13:57and to search for her.
13:59I'm sure in the first 24 hours
14:00most people were looking
14:01in the vicinity
14:02of the grandparents' home
14:04thinking,
14:04well, she's just
14:05got herself lost.
14:06She's wandered into the woods,
14:07she's in the field,
14:08or she's wandered off
14:09down the road.
14:10And it would have been
14:11only slowly
14:13that the concern
14:15would have started to dawn
14:16that perhaps
14:17she'd been abducted
14:19rather than just wandered off
14:20and got lost.
14:22The police only had one lead
14:24to work with.
14:26Sarah's 13-year-old brother
14:28had seen a man
14:29behind the wheel
14:30of a white van
14:31driving away
14:32from the scene
14:34of the abduction.
14:35He was very clear
14:37that Sarah fell over
14:38and cut her knee.
14:39She ran diagonally
14:41across the field
14:41to go back to Nana
14:43because Nana was
14:44at the end of the field.
14:46Her house overlooked it.
14:48So Sarah runs
14:48across the field.
14:50Lee thinks,
14:50I'm going to get in trouble
14:51because I'm the oldest child.
14:52I need to supervise this.
14:54Sarah disappeared
14:55into a hedge.
14:56When Lee came out
14:57through the same hedge,
14:58seconds later,
14:59there was no Sarah
15:00and there was a white van
15:01driving along the road.
15:03As the police searched
15:05for potential suspects,
15:07the hunt for Sarah
15:08continued.
15:10Within a couple of days,
15:11I can remember
15:12the scale of this story
15:15starting to escalate
15:16quite rapidly.
15:18The way the police
15:19were describing this,
15:20they were really concerned.
15:22In other words,
15:23abduction quite quickly
15:25had become a possibility
15:27and they were asking
15:28the public to help
15:29and very soon,
15:32the public around
15:33the area in West Sussex
15:34were out in quite big numbers,
15:36sort of combing fields
15:37and woods
15:38and trying to look
15:39for this girl.
15:42Within a couple of hours,
15:44we had over 100 police officers
15:45involved
15:46and by the Sunday morning
15:48and Sunday afternoon,
15:49there were 500 police officers
15:51involved
15:52and by the Tuesday,
15:53so three or four days
15:55into the incident,
15:57there were over 1,000
15:58police officers involved.
16:00So at one stage,
16:01one in three police officers
16:02in Sussex
16:03were working on this case.
16:05It was staggering.
16:08Everybody wants to help.
16:09Nobody wants to see
16:10a child missing.
16:12Everybody wants to find
16:13that child
16:13because a missing child
16:15is every family,
16:17every parent's worst nightmare.
16:19A school photograph
16:22of a smiling Sarah Payne
16:24was splashed across front pages
16:26in a bid to try
16:27and find the little girl.
16:30That photo of her
16:31in her school uniform
16:32just swept the world
16:34and I think there's not many things
16:37as a police officer
16:38after all the service
16:39I've had
16:39and the murders
16:40I've investigated
16:40that shocked me.
16:42I was really surprised
16:43to see so many satellite vans
16:44outside of Little Hampton
16:45Police Station
16:46from Japan, New Zealand,
16:48America, Sweden, Norway.
16:51Every country in the world
16:52sent a satellite ban
16:54to report on this case.
16:56As the search continued,
16:57the police were focusing
16:59their efforts
17:00on one suspect
17:01in particular.
17:03Just 24 hours
17:05after Sarah Payne's abduction,
17:07they had visited
17:08with a local man
17:09who had been placed
17:11on the sex offenders register
17:12three years previously,
17:1541-year-old Roy Whiting.
17:17We knew where he lived
17:19and he was being
17:20regularly visited
17:21by our sex offender team.
17:26He didn't have a white van,
17:27though.
17:28He was clearly
17:29the most appropriate
17:30person to look at
17:32because of what he did
17:33in Crawley
17:34a few years before
17:35where he'd abducted
17:36a child
17:37and then sexually abused her.
17:39The only bit
17:39of the jigsaw missing
17:40was the white van
17:41and, of course,
17:42when the officers
17:42finally traced Whiting
17:44on the Sunday afternoon,
17:45less than 24 hours
17:46after the abduction,
17:48there was the white van
17:49that no one knew
17:50he'd just bought
17:50from Southampton.
17:52They chatted to him.
17:54He said he'd been
17:55at a fun fair
17:56in Ove
17:57just down the coast
17:58at the time
17:59that Sarah went missing
18:00and so he couldn't have
18:01possibly been anywhere
18:02near the scene.
18:03I think that the way
18:05that he actually
18:06told that lie,
18:07the fact he had
18:08the confidence
18:09to tell that lie,
18:10that suggests to me
18:12that he thought
18:12he was going
18:13to get away with this.
18:15He thought the police
18:15wouldn't dig too deeply.
18:18But as they left,
18:19they both said,
18:20I'm not very happy
18:21about this.
18:22Let's keep an eye
18:23on him and see
18:24what he does.
18:25And they sat in their
18:26police car
18:26outside the address.
18:29Literally,
18:29minutes later,
18:31Whiting comes out
18:32and goes to the white van
18:34and goes to open
18:37the door
18:38and out falls
18:41the receipt.
18:42The two detectives
18:43immediately got out
18:45of their car
18:45and headed back
18:47towards Whiting
18:48for a closer look
18:49at the receipt.
18:50It was from
18:51a petrol station
18:52on a road far
18:53from Hove,
18:54dated Saturday,
18:55July 1st,
18:56the day Sarah Payne
18:58had been abducted.
18:59The receipt clearly
19:00shows he lied
19:01because the A24
19:03is several miles
19:04north of the A27.
19:05He's going towards
19:06Crawley
19:07and it's nowhere
19:09near Hove.
19:10So that small receipt
19:12falling out of the door
19:13as the officers
19:13stepped up
19:14to question him again
19:15the second time
19:16they'd spoken to him
19:17showed,
19:18one, he lied
19:19about where he was
19:20on Saturday night
19:21and, two,
19:21that he'd been
19:22in a different location
19:23to where he said he was.
19:24And those officers
19:25made a very great decision
19:26to arrest him
19:27on suspicion of abduction.
19:28Police seized the white van
19:31for forensic testing
19:32and Whiting was taken in
19:35for questioning.
19:36But he wasn't telling
19:37the detectives anything.
19:43We know you're a paedophile
19:44and we know you lied
19:45about where you were
19:46Saturday night.
19:47But, of course,
19:48we didn't have Sarah.
19:49We didn't know
19:49if she was alive or dead.
19:50We didn't know
19:51where she was.
19:52And he was going
19:53no comment.
19:54So, the inevitable happened.
19:56We had to release him.
19:59Throughout,
20:00he doesn't explain
20:01at any point
20:02to the police,
20:02doesn't help the police
20:03with their inquiries.
20:04He does his best
20:05to conceal his guilt.
20:06He does in no way
20:07tries to alleviate
20:08any of the suffering
20:09that Sarah and Michael Payne
20:11were going through.
20:13Heartless would be
20:14a pleasant way
20:15of describing Whiting.
20:18At a press conference
20:20on Monday, July the 3rd,
20:21two days after
20:22her disappearance,
20:24Sarah Payne's parents
20:25made an emotional appeal
20:27for her safe return.
20:29We need a home now.
20:31Today.
20:33As quickly as we possibly can.
20:38She's alive.
20:41The thing that impressed
20:42everybody and the thing
20:43that made people cry
20:45in the room
20:45was her undying belief,
20:48her unswerving belief
20:50that Sarah was coming home.
20:52And every day,
20:54in every press briefing,
20:56she spoke to Sarah
20:57and said,
20:58we're coming,
20:59we know you're there,
21:00we love you.
21:01I mean, I'm getting emotional
21:02doing it now.
21:03And she did that
21:04day in, day out
21:05for a long time.
21:06And it was hugely emotional
21:08and it was also
21:09hugely genuine.
21:11People saw it
21:12for what it was.
21:13And it was incredible, actually.
21:15Sarah, if you're watching,
21:17Mummy loves you.
21:20And we miss you.
21:22And we're looking for you,
21:23darling,
21:23and we're going to find you.
21:25OK?
21:27We're going to find you.
21:30Two weeks passed
21:32without any sign
21:33of Sarah Payne.
21:35Chances of finding
21:36the missing
21:36eight-year-old girl
21:37were becoming slim.
21:39As long as there's no news,
21:41there's always hope
21:42that a child
21:43who's vanished
21:45will be found again.
21:46But as every policeman
21:49and expert
21:50will tell you,
21:51if they're not found
21:53within the first
21:5324 or 48 hours,
21:55there is a law
21:57of diminishing returns.
21:58The chances of finding
22:00them alive and well
22:02start to reduce
22:04quite radically.
22:06Everybody was desperate
22:08that this bonnie
22:10little child
22:10who they'd seen
22:11in pictures,
22:13who they heard
22:15from the parents,
22:16they'd heard
22:17from her brothers
22:18and her sister,
22:19they all wanted
22:21her to come home safe.
22:22But you knew
22:23that behind that,
22:25people's hopes
22:27were finding it hard
22:28to maintain hope.
22:30The longer it goes on,
22:31you know
22:32that that hope
22:33is perhaps ill-founded.
22:35The police were certain
22:38that convicted paedophile
22:39Roy Whiting
22:40was responsible
22:41for Sarah's disappearance.
22:43But they had so far
22:45found no evidence
22:46to link him
22:48to the crime.
22:49I lost sleep over this.
22:51I mean, this is a guy
22:52who's abducted a little girl
22:53and horribly abused her sexually.
22:57This is a man
22:58who is suspected
23:00of abducting
23:01and possibly sexually abusing
23:02another little girl
23:03who could still be alive
23:05and we can't find her
23:06and we've got to let him go
23:08because there's not enough evidence
23:10to charge him.
23:11And what happens
23:12if he takes a third child?
23:14I mean, I had nightmares about it.
23:15I literally had nightmares
23:17over the first few weeks.
23:21But you have to work
23:22within the law
23:22and we didn't have enough
23:23to charge him
23:24and he was bailed
23:26and released
23:27and a few of us
23:30held our breath.
23:31What's going to happen next?
23:35It wouldn't take long
23:37to find out.
23:3816 days after
23:40the disappearance
23:40of Sarah Payne,
23:42a farmhand
23:43in the town of Pulborough,
23:4415 miles from Littlehampton,
23:47would make a discovery
23:48that the whole of Britain
23:49had been dreading.
23:51Over a fortnight
24:03after the disappearance
24:04of eight-year-old Sarah Payne,
24:06the police were sure
24:07that a local man,
24:09Roy Whiting,
24:10was responsible
24:11for her abduction.
24:12But they had no solid evidence
24:14to prove it.
24:16As the search continued
24:17for the missing schoolgirl,
24:19breaking news
24:20on July the 17th, 2000,
24:23confirmed what everyone
24:24had been dreading.
24:26Then came that day
24:28that we'd all feared.
24:30I'm sure the whole country
24:31had feared.
24:32The police announced
24:33that they had found
24:35the body of what they believed
24:37was a child about.
24:3930 feet away
24:40from a relatively main
24:42trunk road,
24:42the A29,
24:44partially covered,
24:45just off a footpath.
24:47And I think we all
24:49held our breath collectively
24:52in news studios,
24:54in newsrooms,
24:54and around the country,
24:56in homes right across
24:57the nation,
24:59hoping that it wasn't
25:00the worst,
25:01but fearing
25:02that it probably was.
25:07The first thing
25:08I can confirm with you now
25:09is as a result
25:10of the post-mortem
25:11that was carried out
25:11in the early hours
25:12of this morning,
25:13this is now
25:14a murder inquiry.
25:17The second thing
25:18that you will obviously
25:19be wishing to anticipate
25:20is that we have been able
25:22to identify
25:24that the body in the field
25:25half a mile from here
25:27is Sarah Payne.
25:31That was a black day
25:33for the inquiry
25:34and a black day
25:35for the country, really,
25:35because everyone
25:36was still living in hope
25:37with a little girl
25:38coming home,
25:39and she didn't come home.
25:40She was found lying dead
25:42in a field,
25:43and she deserved
25:44better than that.
25:46Sarah had been found
25:47in a shallow grave
25:49on the edge
25:50of a farmer's field.
25:52Experts believe
25:53that the burial site
25:54where Sarah's body
25:55was found
25:56was dug by Roy Whiting
25:58very soon
25:58after he'd murdered her,
26:00so here is a sexual offender
26:03who wants to get this
26:04all over with
26:05very quickly.
26:07And it's almost as if
26:08he's just closing
26:10that chapter,
26:11saying, right,
26:11that's done,
26:12I'm moving on.
26:12There's absolutely
26:13no sense of remorse,
26:15no sense of empathy
26:16with Sarah whatsoever.
26:18He's got what he wanted,
26:19and he's finished.
26:21There was no forensic evidence
26:23on Sarah's body,
26:24so once again,
26:25the police were left frustrated.
26:28They had a receipt
26:29that proved that Roy Whiting
26:30was in the region
26:32at the time,
26:33but that was all.
26:35They needed some hard evidence,
26:37and a 999 call
26:39soon gave them that.
26:41The day that, um,
26:43her body was found,
26:44that prompted the lady
26:46to pick up the phone
26:47and say,
26:47I should have told you before,
26:48but I saw a child's shoe
26:49at the Coolum Crossroads,
26:51and that shoe
26:52transformed the case.
26:54This innocuous tip-off
26:56led police
26:57to the small hamlet
26:58of Coolum in West Sussex,
27:00just eight miles
27:01from where Sarah's body
27:02had been discovered.
27:04They were certain
27:05the shoe could help
27:06unlock the case,
27:08and about 150 meters
27:09from the road
27:10where it had first
27:11been spotted,
27:12they found it,
27:13discarded in a field.
27:16That was a very emotional time
27:18because Sarah and her family
27:21were just coming to terms
27:22with losing Sarah,
27:24and then you do
27:25what every cop dreads to do,
27:27which is walk in
27:27with a plastic bag
27:28and evidence bag
27:29and say,
27:30I'm sorry,
27:31but is this yours?
27:33And we realized
27:34the significance
27:35of what we had.
27:36We had a man
27:37who was going,
27:37no comments,
27:38we had a man
27:39that we just didn't
27:39have enough to charge,
27:41and suddenly,
27:42we found the shoe
27:43on a direct route
27:44from the petrol station
27:46to where she was found murdered.
27:48Hugely important
27:49and very emotional
27:50for the family
27:51to say,
27:51oh, my God,
27:52that's my daughter's shoe.
27:54The small,
27:55child-sized 13 shoe
27:57was sent off
27:58for forensic testing.
28:00Martin was confident
28:01they would find something
28:03they could use as evidence.
28:05It was a Velcro shoe,
28:07and Velcro is one of the most aggressive
28:10forensic capturers you'll ever find.
28:14A piece of Velcro
28:15will grab hundreds of things a day,
28:18and that's what this did.
28:20This strap on this girl's shoe
28:23had literally hundreds
28:25of fibers,
28:27bits of grass,
28:29bits of earth,
28:30hair.
28:32The number one suspect,
28:34Roy Whiting,
28:35had moved back
28:36to his hometown of Crawley
28:37and was living with his father.
28:40Rumors of his involvement
28:41in Sarah's murder
28:42had spread like wildfire.
28:45By this time,
28:47Whiting was known locally
28:49as a person of interest
28:50in the inquiry,
28:51indeed,
28:51the possible killer
28:52of Sarah Payne,
28:54whose body has then,
28:55now,
28:55been discovered.
28:57Vigilantes attack
28:59Whiting's father's house.
29:02They threw bricks
29:03through the window,
29:04they shout outside,
29:06and so Whiting
29:07takes himself off
29:09and, of all unlikely things,
29:12goes to camp
29:13in a tent
29:14not all that far
29:15from the estate in Crawley
29:17where he abducted
29:18the girl in 1995.
29:19Feeling the pressure,
29:21Whiting's next move
29:23was a bizarre one.
29:25Whiting is clearly tormented,
29:29and during this period
29:31of the summer of 2000,
29:34he decides to steal a car.
29:38And then,
29:39when the police went
29:39to stop him,
29:41he drove off at speed
29:43and, in fact,
29:44drove down a road
29:45the wrong way
29:46and a high-speed chase ensued.
29:50Faster and faster,
29:51Whiting driving
29:52this rather tired Vauxhall
29:54as quickly as he can,
29:55eventually crashes it
29:56into another car.
30:03He's caught by the police
30:05who chased him,
30:05and, of course,
30:07is charged with
30:08stealing the vehicle.
30:11This really is quite
30:12kind of out of control.
30:14It's quite reckless.
30:16And it's because he's not
30:17thinking that far ahead.
30:18He hasn't actually considered
30:20the eventuality
30:21that he needs to get away,
30:22and when he does realize
30:23that that's the possibility,
30:25he does the most ludicrous things
30:27because he hasn't got a plan.
30:30On July the 23rd, 2000,
30:33Roy Whiting was arrested
30:35and charged
30:36with dangerous driving.
30:38He would have to remain
30:39in custody
30:40until his hearing.
30:42And that was
30:43an amazing moment for me
30:44because the risk level,
30:46the threat to the public,
30:48disappeared,
30:49and we knew we had him.
30:51And all I had to do
30:52was keep that man in prison
30:53until we could prove
30:54he killed
30:55or abducted Sarah Payne.
30:57Whiting's time in custody
30:59would give detectives
31:01the chance
31:01to build a case against him.
31:04They knew
31:04that if they were going
31:05to arrest him
31:06for Sarah's murder,
31:08they had to get it right.
31:11Whilst he's in prison,
31:14police go back
31:15and re-examine
31:16his white Fiat van.
31:19Bear in mind,
31:20a white van
31:21had been seen
31:22in the lane
31:23where Sarah had gone missing.
31:25And they find in it,
31:27eventually,
31:28through very, very
31:29meticulous forensic testing,
31:33a blonde hair.
31:34The blonde hair
31:35was a 10 million
31:38to one shot
31:38that it had to be
31:40Sarah Payne.
31:41There was really
31:42very little forensic doubt.
31:44The blonde hair
31:46discovered on Whiting's sweatshirt
31:48was a huge breakthrough
31:49in the case,
31:51and more strong evidence
31:52was still to come
31:53from the forensic teams.
31:56We found
31:57fibres in that shoe
31:59which linked Whiting
32:00to the shoe
32:01and linked the shoe
32:02to Sarah.
32:03I think it was
32:04the icing on the cake
32:05for the case.
32:06It was the missing piece
32:07of the jigsaw,
32:08and then we had him,
32:10and we had him big time.
32:12And slowly,
32:14they were able
32:14to build
32:15a strong enough case
32:16against Roy Whiting
32:17to charge him
32:20with the abduction
32:20and murder
32:21of Sarah Payne.
32:23It felt good, actually.
32:25I just kept thinking,
32:26you can't do this anymore now.
32:28We're not going
32:29to let you do this anymore
32:30because it's not okay
32:31what you did.
32:33And then the hard work started.
32:35We had to get
32:35the case to trial.
32:37On February the 6th, 2001,
32:40while serving 22 months
32:42for the car theft,
32:44Roy Whiting was arrested
32:45in his prison cell
32:46and charged
32:47with the abduction
32:48and murder
32:49of Sarah Payne,
32:51seven months
32:51after the disappearance
32:53of the schoolgirl.
32:56Soon after being arrested
32:58in Kent this morning,
32:59Roy Whiting was driven
33:00in a people carrier
33:01back to Sussex.
33:03As he arrived
33:04at Bobna Police Station,
33:06an egg was thrown
33:06at the vehicle
33:07by one of several onlookers.
33:11I got home and cried.
33:13That was the culmination
33:14of months of work
33:15to not just deliver
33:18for Sarah's family.
33:20I'd built a relationship
33:21with the Payne family.
33:22I respected the Payne family.
33:24And they deserved us
33:26doing this.
33:27They deserved justice.
33:30And so lots of emotions
33:32going through me.
33:33I've done this
33:33for the Payne family.
33:35I've also done this
33:36for the public
33:36because by charging
33:37this monster,
33:38we're keeping
33:39a third kid safe.
33:40But Roy Whiting
33:43wasn't going to go down
33:45without a fight.
33:46The 42-year-old
33:47was going to deny
33:48all the charges
33:50against him.
33:51His trial was set
33:52for November 2001.
33:54He was going to plead
33:56not guilty
33:56to the murder
33:57of Sarah Payne.
34:07In November 2001,
34:1042-year-old Roy Whiting
34:12was on trial
34:13at Lewis Crown Court
34:14for the murder
34:15of schoolgirl Sarah Payne.
34:18He'd entered a plea
34:19of not guilty.
34:21Detectives hoped
34:22that the three key pieces
34:24of evidence they had
34:25would be enough
34:26to convince the jury
34:27to put him behind bars
34:29forever.
34:32When you look
34:33at the cooling show
34:34and when you look
34:35at the red sweatshirt,
34:37I mean,
34:37there was a lot of
34:39either luck
34:40or fluke
34:41in the way
34:42this case came together
34:43because we only found out
34:45months into the inquiry
34:46that he spent
34:47Sunday morning
34:49steam-cleaning
34:50the back of that van.
34:52Now,
34:52we'll never know
34:53because he's never
34:53spoken to us.
34:54Why didn't he steam-clean
34:55the front of the van?
34:57If he'd steam-cleaned
34:57the front of the van
34:58as well,
34:59the red sweatshirt
35:00would have gone
35:00and we'd have lost
35:02a crucial piece
35:03of evidence,
35:03arguably the most
35:04important bit of evidence
35:05against Roy Whiting.
35:07And the Buck-Balm receipt,
35:09I mean,
35:10he could have just
35:10thrown that away
35:11at the time.
35:13The chance of it
35:14falling out on the floor
35:15and an officer
35:15saying,
35:16what's that?
35:17Let me look at it.
35:19It was incredible.
35:20All those three things
35:21came together
35:21to create
35:22a pretty convincing
35:24piece of evidence,
35:25but it's never lost on me
35:26that actually all those
35:27three things
35:27could have disappeared
35:28and we would never
35:29have solved that case.
35:32Prosecutor Timothy Langdale,
35:34QC,
35:35came up against
35:36a wall of denial
35:37from Whiting.
35:40Well, his defense,
35:41to put it bluntly,
35:42was,
35:42I didn't do it
35:43and I've no idea
35:45how there would be
35:47a hair of Sarah Payne's
35:50on anything in my van
35:51and I'm not responsible
35:54for her death.
35:57The judge had ruled
35:58the jury were not
36:00allowed to know
36:00about Whiting's
36:01previous conviction
36:02for sexual abuse
36:04on a child
36:05in 1995,
36:07which made the case
36:08against him
36:09harder to prove.
36:10It was an emotional
36:1119 days in the courtroom.
36:15I think one of the most
36:15moving moments
36:16of the trial
36:17was when it was put
36:19to him that effectively
36:21he threw this poor
36:23innocent girl
36:24into the back
36:25of a white
36:26Ducato van
36:27which he turned
36:29into a moving prison.
36:31It defies imagining
36:32what she must have suffered.
36:35There is no possible way
36:38anyone could forgive
36:40that kind of atrocity,
36:42that kind of depraved behavior.
36:44This was a girl
36:46he didn't know,
36:48entirely innocent,
36:49cheerful,
36:51smiling,
36:51as every picture
36:52always showed her,
36:54who fell into the hands
36:55of what could only
36:56be described
36:56as a monster.
36:58After nine hours
36:59of deliberation,
37:01on Wednesday,
37:02December the 12th,
37:032001,
37:04the jury
37:05had reached
37:06their decision.
37:07Roy Whiting
37:08was guilty
37:09of the murder
37:10of Sarah Payne.
37:11I can't believe
37:13for one moment
37:14that had he got off
37:16the killing
37:17of Sarah Payne,
37:18he wouldn't have returned
37:19to the same modus operandi
37:20that he'd used
37:21in 1995 and 2000.
37:23It would have been
37:23a tragedy.
37:24The four-week trial
37:26was torturous
37:26for the Payne family
37:28who were in the courtroom
37:29throughout.
37:31The pressure,
37:32in particular,
37:33on Sarah's mother,
37:35Sarah Payne,
37:36must have been enormous
37:37hearing all this evidence
37:39about the terrible
37:40death of her daughter
37:42and having to sit there
37:44and listen to Whiting.
37:46One member of the family
37:47I seem to remember,
37:48and again,
37:48one can perhaps
37:49hardly blame him,
37:51said,
37:51may you rot in hell
37:52or something to that effect.
37:53But that was the only time
37:54anybody gave vent
37:56to any kind of
37:57emotional response,
38:01and that was after
38:02Whiting had been convicted.
38:05On December the 12th,
38:062001,
38:08Judge Mr. Justice Curtis
38:10sentenced Whiting
38:11to life imprisonment.
38:13He was sent
38:14to Wakefield Prison.
38:16It was only after
38:17the trial
38:17that Whiting's
38:18previous conviction
38:19was read out
38:21to the court.
38:23The judge said
38:24he'd be recommending
38:25that Whiting be kept
38:26in prison
38:27for the rest of his life.
38:29This was met
38:30by the loudest cries
38:31of yes in court.
38:33Whiting was taken away
38:34to begin that sentence
38:36tonight.
38:36This doesn't make us happy,
38:39but justice has been done.
38:42Sarah can rest in peace now.
38:45But let's make sure
38:47that this stops happening
38:49time and time again.
38:54It's always shocking
38:55to think that somebody
38:56can be convicted
38:57of an act as awful
38:59as a paedophile attack,
39:02to be put away
39:03in prison,
39:05to be put on
39:06the sexual offenders register,
39:08and yet
39:09to be free
39:11to harm again.
39:13Not that long afterwards,
39:15five years later,
39:16surely our system
39:18is better than that,
39:20that it should
39:21better prevent
39:22these repeat offences
39:24as Whiting
39:25managed to carry out.
39:27The reverberations
39:29surrounding
39:29the tragic murder
39:31of Sarah Payne
39:32can still be felt today.
39:35One thing I think
39:36in the news
39:37we tend to forget about
39:38is the aftermath
39:39of these terrible cases.
39:42And it was a long time
39:43afterwards,
39:43you start to
39:44be more aware
39:46of the tragic impact
39:48that a child's
39:50abduction and murder
39:51has on all those
39:53around them,
39:53the whole family,
39:54probably friends as well.
39:55Traumatized by it,
39:58never to be the same.
40:00And in the case
40:01of the Paynes,
40:04Sarah, the mother,
40:05appeared to be
40:05very strong
40:06and pushed through
40:08her great political campaign
40:10to get legislation changed.
40:13And to have something
40:14in this country
40:14called Sarah's Law,
40:16which was the equivalent
40:17to an American device
40:19called Megan's Law.
40:21In other words,
40:22you had the right
40:23to know where
40:24registered sexual
40:25sex offenders
40:26lived in your area.
40:30And Sarah Payne's mother
40:32campaigned,
40:33with the help
40:34of the News of the World,
40:35to introduce this right.
40:38But it seemed
40:39that in the struggle
40:40to do that,
40:41to compensate
40:42for the loss
40:43of her child,
40:44that immense pressures
40:46were put on
40:47the marriage
40:47with Michael
40:48and eventually he had
40:50problems with alcoholism,
40:53mental issues,
40:55depression.
40:57And sadly,
40:59Michael left us too early.
41:01And there's no doubt about it
41:03that the contribution
41:06of Sarah's abduction
41:07of Whiting's,
41:08murder of his daughter,
41:09and the stresses
41:11and strains that produced
41:12led to his early death.
41:15I hope
41:16he's now with Sarah.
41:21Sarah's mother
41:22had a stroke,
41:24now walks
41:24with some considerable difficulty.
41:27and has throughout
41:29behaved with the most
41:29enormous dignity
41:30and complete grace
41:33to this utterly poisonous man.
41:37I think her behavior
41:40has been exemplary.
41:43I have the utmost respect
41:45for Sarah.
41:46She was incredible.
41:48And my admiration for her
41:50in the way she steered
41:51her family,
41:53her children,
41:54and her friends
41:57through this
41:57was incredible.
42:00The abduction
42:02and murder
42:02of Sarah Payne
42:04has become one
42:05of the most infamous crimes
42:07in British history.
42:10I think murders
42:11like this,
42:12the murder of Sarah Payne,
42:14captures so much attention
42:15because this could have been
42:17anybody's child,
42:19anybody's sister,
42:20anybody's daughter.
42:22And it's that idea of risk,
42:24that idea of stranger danger
42:26as being something
42:27that really feeds into
42:28the paranoia of parenting
42:30in contemporary society.
42:33It was a watershed
42:34because it changed
42:35the way the police
42:35and society looked
42:36at the child abduction.
42:38I think it really brought
42:39the horror of child abduction
42:41into everyone's house
42:42for the first time.
42:44It was about the time
42:45that 24-7 TV arrived
42:46and it was a massive case
42:49and it still is, actually.
42:51People still talk about
42:51the Sarah Payne case.
42:53It's changed history.
42:55Her legacy
42:56is that a lot of children
42:57now are safer
42:58than they were in 2000
43:00and that's a hell of a legacy
43:02for any person.
43:04Since Roy Whiting
43:05has been in prison,
43:07he's been viciously attacked
43:08on two occasions
43:09by fellow inmates.
43:11He will be eligible
43:12for parole in 2041
43:14at the age of 82.
43:16I tend to think of him
43:18as being more pathetic
43:20than evil
43:21but in the end
43:22he did the most evil of acts.
43:25He killed another human being
43:26and in this case
43:28he killed an eight-year-old girl.
43:30There are a few worst crimes
43:32in our society
43:33so he will go down
43:35as an evil man.
43:38I think the family need closure
43:40even now.
43:42They would want to know
43:42what happened to their daughter.
43:43There are various unanswered questions.
43:46I don't think Roy Whiting
43:47will ever speak now
43:48and I hope he walks in hell.
43:53The whole of Britain
43:54was heartbroken
43:55when the body
43:56of eight-year-old Sarah Payne
43:58was found in July 2000.
44:01Everyone had hoped
44:02she would return home safe
44:04but there was to be
44:05no fairy tale ending.
44:07Thanks to persistent police work
44:10Roy Whiting is now behind bars
44:12and the memory
44:13and the legacy
44:14of Sarah Payne
44:15will long outlive
44:17her sick killer.