UK News 13-12-2001 Sarah Killer Gets Life who: Roy Whiting what: Jailed for life for murder of Sarah Payne where: Crown Court, LEWES when: Yesterday snippet: "Roy Whiting, the man who killed schoolgirl Sarah Payne, is beginning a life jail term after being described as `every parent`s nightmare` by a judge," says the Express after Whiting was found guilty of murder and sentenced at Lewes Crown Court yesterday. "After the conviction, Whiting was revealed to have served less than three years in jail for a similar case in which he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl in 1995," adds the Independent`s Paul Peachey. "Questions were being asked as to why the sex offender was given an apparently lenient sentence and allowed to go free, only to kill five years after the first attack, also in Sussex." Sarah`s parents Michael and Sara Payne said had they known that convicted sex offender Roy Whiting had been living in the area, they would never have allowed their children to play unsupervised, reports BBC Online. "Please make sure that this stops happening time and time again," said mrs Payne in a press conference after the sentencing. "People are being let out of prison when everybody concerned knows that this is going to happen again." Sentencing, judge Justice Curtis told Whiting: "You are indeed an evil man. You are in no way mentally unwell. I have seen you for a month and, in my view, you are a glib and cunning liar. I have a psychiatrist`s report which assists me, and a psychiatrist who saw you in June 1995 said you were a high risk repeat offender. How right he was. My judgment is that you are and will remain an absolute menace to any little girl. This is one of the rare cases when I shall recommend to the appropriate authorities that you will be kept in prison for the rest of your life." [... more]

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