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03/12/01 - Sarah jury will not visit
abduction scene
The jury in the trial of Roy Whiting will not visit
the scene where Sarah Payne was abducted. Mr Justice
Richard Curtis refused an application by the jury to
visit the spot in Kingston Gorse, near Littlehampton,
where Sarah was abducted on July 1 last year. He said:
"It is impossible to recreate any useful situation
18 months after it occurred."
But Justice Curtis told the jury they were entitled
to watch film of the field and neighbouring country
lanes taken in the days after she vanished. Whiting,
42, formerly of St Augustine Road, Littlehampton, West
Sussex, denies kidnapping and murdering Sarah.
In today's proceedings, the court heard how Sarah's
brother, Lee, had failed to pick out her alleged killer
in an identity parade. Lee Payne was asked to pick out
the man he saw driving a white van as he searched for
Sarah after she had vanished near her grandparents'
home. Lee, 13 at the time, failed to pick out Whiting.
The identity parade was held on July 5. The court heard
earlier in the trial how Whiting had changed his appearance
on July 2, according to a man who knew him and who bumped
into him outside his Littlehampton flat. Builder Terence
Heath said Whiting appeared "steam-cleaned",
and had lost his usual scruffy appearance.
On day 12 of the trial, the jury heard several admissions
from Crispin Aylett, junior counsel for the prosecution
Mr Aylett said that in the days after Whiting's first
arrest, he was placed under "discreet observation"
by the police. He said: "At no time prior to the
discovery of Sarah's body was the defendant seen to
go anywhere near the Pulborough area."
The eight-year-old was found naked in a shallow grave
close to the A29 road in Pulborough on July 17. In another
admission between the prosecution and defence, the jury
was told that there had been a funfair in Hove on the
night Sarah was snatched. Whiting told police he had
been to a fair in Hove when questioned about his movements
on evening of July 1 last year.
Mud samples taken from Whiting's van and clothes were
analysed but found not to match samples taken from the
burial site. Police also looked for oil on the track
leading to the spot where Sarah was dumped. None was
found. The court has heard how Whiting's Fiat Ducato
van had an oil leak.
The trial continues. |
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