https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/harrowing-impact-sarah-paynes-murder-21829745?utm_source=mirror_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Mirror12at21&utm_campaign=daily_newsletterHarrowing impact Sarah Payne's murder has had on her grieving older brother
Sarah Payne's murder and abduction by paedophile Roy Whiting left a huge hole in the little girl's family from which they've struggled to recover
By Jane Lavender Assistant Editor
10:16, 9 APR 2020 Updated 10:24, 9 APR 2020
Luke Payne was just a child himself when his little sister, Sarah, was abducted and murdered. While the eight-year-old played with her siblings, Lee, Luke, and Charlotte, evil Roy Whiting was lying in wait in his "moving prison" van. And when little Sarah hit her head while playing hide and seek with her brothers and sister and ran off crying, he put his twisted plan into action. Whiting snatched Sarah and dragged her into his van. He then sexually assaulted her, killed her and dumped her naked body in a shallow grave. While her siblings were unaware of the horror that was unfolding just feet from them, brave Lee did catch a glance of the man who would rip his family apart forever. When Sarah's family realised she was missing a huge search was launched for the little girl and for 16 days the country held its breath, hoping she would be found safe and well. But then her little body was found and her family was left heartbroken. Police had already spoken to Whiting in the days immediately after Sarah's abduction. He was a convicted paedophile who had been jailed for four years in 1995 for the abduction and sexual assault of a nine-year-old girl in Crawley, Sussex. Whiting was even arrested before Sarah's body was found and held in police custody but there was no concrete evidence against him and he was released. Then, on July 23, he stole a car and was chased by police before crashing it and being arrested and jailed for 22 months. While he was behind bars detectives carried out forensic tests on his van and on September 27, 2000, Whiting was finally charged with the abduction and murder of Sarah Payne. At his murder trial pathologist, Vesna Djurovic told the court Sarah had suffered a ‘violent’ death, probably asphyxia in a "sexually motivated" attack. She described how decomposition had made it impossible to say what injuries the child had suffered. The little girl was naked with dry vegetation attached to her body. Most of her hair had come away with the roots. It was this ball of hair that was to prove conclusive in the case against Whiting. It contained 200 fibres of material two which matched the red sweatshirt found in his van. Eleven came from socks found in the Fiat and one fibre matched the passenger seat front cover. A blue fibre found in the hair matched a fibre in the sweatshirt. Britain's leading forensic expert, Raymond Chapman, told Whiting's trial that out of 47 hairs found on the sweatshirt, only one provided a DNA profile which matched Sarah. He added: "The chances of obtaining a match if the hair came from somebody else is in the order of a billion to one."
But the evidence of Sarah's older brother, Lee, was some of the most compelling heard at the murder trial. He described how he had seen Whiting’s van pulling away, its wheels spinning and skidding with a screeching sound. Whiting was grinning and waving at Lee. The youngster told the court: "He was quite scruffy, looking like he hadn't shaved for ages. He had little white stubbles on his face and little bits of grey in his hair. He was greasy and stuff. He had yellowish teeth when he grinned and his eyes were really white and stood out from his face. His hair was really rough and hadn't been brushed. It was sticking up."
This, coupled with the forensic evidence, was enough to convince the jury that Whiting was guilty. He was told he would be spending the rest of his life behind bars. But despite helping to put his sister's killer behind bars for the rest of his lie, Lee has been plagued by horrific guilt ever since Sarah's murder. Now working as a horticulturist, the impact of what happened when he was just 12 has left deep scars. He admits he struggles to sleep because he can't help but play over and over again the events of that day. Luke said: "I’m scared to sleep at night half the time, so I work myself solid until I pretty much drop. It’s fears of what’s there when I close my eyes. I create things that didn’t happen or things that could have happened. I make scenarios up in my head. It just eats me away so I don’t get a lot of sleep, really. I dread the night time because it’s just you and your thoughts, they are all there and it’s so real.â€
Sarah's mum, Sara, has compared tirelessly for a change in the law following her daughter's murder allowing people to ask the police if someone with access to their child has a record for child sex offences. The child sex offender disclosure scheme in England and Wales is also known as “Sarah's Lawâ€. However, Sarah's dad, Michael, spiralled into depression following his daughter's death. His and Sara's marriage broke down under the immense strain they were under following Sarah's murder. Michael suffered from alcoholism and was jailed for 16 months for attacking his brother with a glass in December 2011, during a drunken incident. In 2014, 45 he was found dead at his home in Kent. He was just 45.
