UK News 15-11-2001 Sarah Payne`s Killer Grinned As He Took Her Away who: Sarah Payne murder suspect Roy Whiting what: Smiled at Sarah`s brother as he drove her away in his van, court is told where: Crown Court, LEWES when: Yesterday snippet: "The man who snatched and murdered eight-year-old Sarah Payne grinned and waved at her brother as he sped away with her hidden in his van," reports The Guardian from the trial of 42 year-old Roy Whiting at Lewes Crown Court, which began yesterday. "The killer had snatched eight-year-old Sarah from a cornfield where she was playing with her sister and brothers on a summer`s day in July last year," says The Mirror. She was found dead, naked in a shallow grave in a field near Pulborough, West Sussex, 16 days later. Prosecuting QC Timothy Langdale told the jury that "There is compelling evidence that points to Roy Whiting and Roy Whiting alone, as the man responsible for kidnapping this child and killing her." The defendant pleads not guilty to kidnap and murder, and yesterday, wearing the same yellow T-shirt and blue jeans he had on for his first appearance at the court on Tuesday, he "sat leafing through fat files of photographs and maps relating to the case," says Alan Hamilton in The Times, "darting glances around the courtroom and occasionally making notes." "Members of Sarah`s family, including her grandparents Terence, 58, and Lesley, 46, and her father, Michael Payne, who was 33 yesterday, were in the public gallery," says The Independent. [... more]

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