Sara Payne: 'Justice has been done'

The mother of Sarah Payne expressed relief that her daughter's killer was behind bars but launched a scathing attack on the judicial system outside the court.

Her voice breaking with emotion and supported by her husband, Mike, who held her tightly, Sara Payne said: "This doesn't make us happy, but justice has been done. Sarah can rest in peace now.

"Let's make sure that this stops happening time and time again. People are being let out of prison when everybody concerned knows that this is going to happen again.

"Why should it be on policemen's shoulders? This is down to the Government.

"Right now we have a lot of work to do and it doesn't stop here. We want to thank the public for their support. Everytime we came out on the street when we wanted to stop trying they came up to us and said, 'Keep trying'.

"We want to thank every witness who came forward.

"For Roy - I have no message for that man ever. None at all. I've thought of Sarah and nothing else. Hearing the judge speaking was a bit difficult. It was right what he said and we have to press forward with this. This man will continue to pose a threat to society."

Sara and Mike Payne's determination to do whatever they could to keep the hunt for their daughter in the public eye was one of the most striking features of the whole tragedy.

Day after day Sarah's parents attended press conferences and photocalls, giving interview after interview about the eight-year-old girl who had lit up their lives.

No one who read a British newspaper or watched television in the summer of 2000 can forget the sight of the two of them, their hands entwined and their faces twisted through the effort of not giving in to the mounting despair that their daughter would ever be found alive.

Today, the horror of her murder and the campaign to bring her killer to justice are etched on their faces. Looking older than their 32 years, both have suffered more anguish in the past 18 months than most people in a lifetime.

It has taken a toll on their relationship. Friends say their once-strong marriage has become dangerously strained. Mike is drinking more than he used to. Sara's days as a happy young mother are behind her.

Pc Sean Scott, a family liaison officer who has tried to help the Payne family, said: "Sara and Mike are really suffering. They say they have got this flat feeling, this verdict is not going to make them say ' fantastic'. It is far from over for them."

For the first 16 days after she disappeared, they were adamant Sarah would be found alive.

Then, on 17 July last year, the naked body of a girl Sarah's age was found in a field near Pulborough, West Sussex. Everyone involved was immediately sure that it was Sarah. Millions of people must that day have felt a fraction of the devastation the news brought to her family.

The job of breaking that ghastly news fell to Pc Scott and Detective Superintendent Alan Ladley. Fearful that it might leak out before they had spoken to the family, the officers rushed to the Paynes' home.

Pc Scott said: "They immediately knew we had something to tell them. But instead of both parents it was only Sara and Mike's mother Lesley in the living room. I started to give them the news with Alan when Sara just put her hand up and said, 'Stop. Wait till Mike's here.' He was expected back at any moment. We then had to wait for five minutes or so, and it was the longest five minutes of my life. Then, finally, Mike came back and we gave them the news. It was awful."

SIX weeks later came another difficult milestone: the day the family had to bury their little girl. Sara, who had been determined not to weep in front of the cameras, broke down.

As she watched Sarah being laid to rest in the village of Hersham, Surrey, where she grew up, Mrs Payne said through her tears: "Ever since you came bounding into our lives at two in the morning with one tooth in your head and with a smile that could melt ice, we loved you. You were the joy that made our lives full."

Lately any strength the family might have retained has been sorely tested by the trial. The evidence they have heard has, police say, made Sarah's death seem "real" for the first time.

But for all the family's suffering, there is still more than a trace of hope. Both parents remain determined to get on with life for the sake of the surviving children, Lee, 14, Luke, 12, and Charlotte, seven. And the children have learned that their lives must not end with Sarah's.

Nowhere is this better expressed than in Lee's words last Christmas. Talking of Roy Whiting, he said: "He has hurt my family and taken my eight-year-old sister, but if he thinks he has spoiled our family, he is wrong. We are very close and he can't break that. He made us very unhappy and we still are - but we are all together and trying to get back to normal and everything is going to be all right."