Roy Whiting

Roy Whiting was born in Horsham, West Sussex, on 26 January 1959. He is best known for being convicted of the murder of Sarah Payne.

Pre-convictions

Roy left school in 1975 with no academic qualifications and over the next few years found himself employed in several different jobs, including doing deliveries for the local co-operative store and working as a car mechanic and paintsprayer at a local garage. In 1986 he married a 19-year-old woman, who became pregnant the same year; however, they separated just before the birth of their son and got divorced in 1989.

1995 offence

On 4 March 1995, Roy Whiting abducted and sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl in the Langley Green area of Crawley. He was quickly arrested after a workmate recognised an E-FIT of him which had been printed in the local newspaper. At first Whiting denied any involvement in the attack, but on being charged with abduction and indecent assault he decided to spare the victim the trauma of having to give evidence in court and entered a guilty plea on both charges.

He could have received a life sentence for the crime, but the judge gave him credit for owning up and handed down a four-year sentence. Whiting broke his vow to undergo voluntary psychiatric treatment, learning the building trade instead. He was given early release from custody in November 1997 after serving over two years.

On release from prison Roy Whiting went to live in Littlehampton because he felt that he would not be welcome back in Crawley as a known paedophile. He found a job as a building labourer and lived in a seafront rented flat; he found few friends and told those little about his life. Whiting admitted to one workmate that he had been in prison, but said that it was for being involved in car theft.

The Sarah Payne case

While Sussex Constabulary were making inquiries into the disappearance of a seven-year-old girl called Sarah Payne, they interviewed Whiting at his flat on 2 July 2000

Whiting told police that he had been at a funfair in Hove the evening Sarah disappeared. However a petrol receipt in Whiting's van stated that he had been at a service station in the Buck Barn area after 10:00pm, when he claimed to have been in bed. He was arrested in connection with Sarah's disappearance, but police had no evidence to press charges and he was released the next day.

On 17 July 2000, Sarah Payne's body was found near Pulborough — just 2 miles away from the petrol station where Whiting had bought fuel for his van on the evening Sarah vanished. He was quickly re-arrested, this time on suspicion of murder, but police had no concrete evidence to charge Whiting and he was released on bail again.

After his second arrest, Whiting went to live with his father in Crawley but was hounded out within days by a gang of locals who were acting as vigilantes after rumours circulated that convicted paedophiles were living in the area. Whiting briefly set up home in a tent on a recreation ground near a housing estate in Crawley but then took to the road in a stolen car. He led police on an hour-long chase across Crawley, going off the road along sidewalks and across gardens, before being arrested. He later admitted to that crime and was jailed for 22 months.

Soon after Whiting was arrested his van was seized and tested for foresnic evidence in connection with Sarah Payne's death. By 6 February 2001, police had found enough forensic evidence to prosecute Roy Whiting and he was charged with murder.

On 12 November 2001, Roy Whiting went on trial accused of the abduction and murder of Sarah Payne. He denied being anywhere near Sarah and insisted that he had been in Hove when she vanished. When the prosecution asked him about the petrol receipt at Buck Barn, he claimed to have been driving towards his father's house in Crawley but changed his mind about going after buying fuel for his van.

But the forensic evidence against Whiting was so strong that the jury was convinced that he was guilty, and returned their verdict on 12 December 2001. The trial judge then unveiled the secret of Whiting's previous conviction (which could not previously be disclosed because he had to have a fair trial) and sentenced him to life imprisonment with the recommendation that he should never released.

David Blunkett's illegal ruling

On 24 November 2002, the Home Secretary David Blunkett ordered that Whiting should serve a minimum of 50 years in prison. That would make him ineligible for release until 2051, when he would be 92. However, within 48 hours of the ruling the system was declared illegal after the European Court of Human Rights and House of Lords both ruled that it was illegal for a politician to set a life sentence prisoner's minimum term.

In June 2004, Whiting applied to the Lord Chief Justice for a new shorter minimum sentence to be set.