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10/12/01 - Judge: Did Whiting 'tailor'
his story?
by Simon Freeman
The judge in the Sarah Payne murder trial today told
the jury to question whether her alleged killer had
"tailored" his evidence. The judge, Mr Justice
Richard Curtis, was summing up at Lewes Crown Court
on the 17th day of Roy Whiting's trial for the kidnap
and murder of eight-year-old Sarah.
He started by telling the jury: "The life of a
child is precious in the eyes of the law and the eyes
of all citizens. Yet when a child loses his or her life
the rule of law of fair and even-handed treatment to
anyone accused of taking that life must prevail."
He went on to say:
"There is no doubt that someone abducted Sarah
Payne and then killed her and buried her body in that
shallow grave, just off the A29 road. "You, the
jury, have probably never come across a case like this
in your life. Unfortunately, I have.
"You must bring to this case a calm and dispassionate
mind and act only on the evidence which has been presented
to you. Be careful not to go to the extremes of repugnance
or rush to the other extreme. Steer a straight course."
The judge then began to outline the evidence presented
to the jury of three women and nine men over the past
three weeks. He said: "It's absolutely vital you,
and each of you, realise it is for you to decide what
are the necessary and proper deductions to be made from
the basic fact of the case.
"Having regard to the body's nakedness and the
pathologist's evidence that Sarah Payne met a violent
death, is it a necessary and proper deduction that she
was murdered for an abnormal sexual reason or to cover
up the commission of a sexual offence?
"It's for you to decide the state of mind of Sarah's
attacker taking into account all circumstances."
The judge reminded the jury the burden of proof lay
with the prosecution. Referring to the alibi, Whiting,
42, gave for the night of Sarah's death, he said: "What
about the receipt from the Buck Barn Garage at 9.53pm
on that Saturday?
"Did it torpedo the accused's claims to police
of being at home? Was the accused's evidence to you
tailored to fit his own case? "Did the receipt
for shop purchases the following day torpedo his claims
to have stayed in all day on Sunday? Are his explanations
indicative of a similar tailored story?" He went
on to tell the jury:
"The Crown allege the accused has told lies to
the police. Under our system that is not an offence.
The mere fact he has lied to the police is not evidence
of guilt. "You must ask yourself every time why
did he lie if you think he did. You may only act on
a lie as evidence of guilt if the lie you find was told
deliberately, on an important matter and theoretically
told in the knowledge of guilt and the fear of the truth
popping out."
The jury was reminded how the court had been told Whiting
lied to police not only about his whereabouts on the
night Sarah vanished and the following day, when he
was arrested, but also about items he had allegedly
been seen removing from the van including a checked
shirt, white socks and a white T-shirt.
The judge reminded the jury Whiting's explanation had
been a memory blank and forgetfulness. Sarah, from Hersham,
Surrey, went missing from a field behind her grandparents'
home in Kingston Gorse, East Preston, at around 7.30pm
on July 1 last year.
Her body was found half-buried in a shallow grave off
the A29 between Pulborough and Billingshurst. Whiting,
a mechanic and builder formerly of St Augustine Road,
Littlehampton, denies kidnap and murder. The jury was
expected to be sent out to consider its verdict later
this afternoon or tomorrow morning. |
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