Payne's killer tells of attack

The killer of eight-year-old Sarah Payne returned to a court today to tell how a fellow prisoner slashed his face to punish him for her murder.

Paedophile Roy Whiting, 42, was cut from his right ear to his lip with a double razor blade at Wakefield maximum security jail, where he is serving a life sentence.

Rickie Tregaskis, 34, has pleaded not guilty at Leeds Crown Court to causing grievous bodily harm with intent in August 2002.

Whiting, who kidnapped Sarah near Littlehampton, West Sussex and dumped her body in a field in July 2000, was flanked by five prison officers in the witness box, a

Killer: Whiting and victim Sarah Payne

visible scar on his face. He said of Tregaskis: "I had seen him around but never spoken to him."

The court heard that Whiting was slashed down his cheek as he passed Tregaskis's cell, and had to have hospital treatment. Whiting said that as he walked along a landing, "I noticed from the corner of my eye some movement and I felt a sharp stinging pain." He said he turned around but could see no one, then put his hand to his face "and it was immediately covered in blood".

Jurors were reminded of the Sarah Payne case but were warned that whatever their feelings about Whiting, he still deserved the protection of the law.

Adrian Waterman, prosecuting: said: "Tregaskis took it upon himself to exact his own retribution upon Roy Whiting, not because he'd any connection with Sarah or her family, but as he hated what he had done.

"We all, no doubt, hate what Roy Whiting did. However, he received a fair trial and he was fairly convicted. Only by treating him as all other people - fairly - does society have the right to judge and punish." The case continues.