| Flowers in Gods Garden
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13/12/01
- She loved to make angels in the snow
By MARTIN WALLACE
The Sun
SHE was a perfect little girl from a loving family without
a care in the world. To her parents, Sarah Payne was simply
their "little princess." The happy eight-year-old
whose precious, sparkling fife was cruelly snuffed out
by monster Roy Whiting gave her family so many treasured
memories.
One of her mum's fondest is of the two of them making
angels in the snow. When it snowed she and the giggling
youngster would rush out, lie on their backs and move
their arms up and down leaving an imprint like angels'
wings. Mum Sara recalled how her daughter loved to read
especially fairy stories.
Her favourite tale was The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid
Blyton. It is about little children who discover a magical
world in the middle of an enchanted wood. Sarah would
often take her mum by the hand and look for fairies at
the bottom of their garden. At Christmas her favourite
time of year it was her important task to place a fairy
she had made on top of the tree.
And on Santa's very last visit to the bubbly youngster
he left her a fairytale castle. Sarah liked to play in
the rain. And she could never go to sleep without an old
red and black shawl bought for her when she was three
days old.
During the anguished days after she was snatched, mum
Sara told an emotional press conference: "She loves
being the little mother, the little lady." Begging
for her daughter's safe return, she went on: "Sarah
loves a bedtime cuddle.
"And she likes having her head stroked more than
anything." Sara had an unshakeable belief that her
daughter would be found alive. Her determination to stay
strong as police gradually gave up hope kept the nation
rooting for her missing child.
Then, 16 days after Sarah vanished, a shallow grave was
discovered 21 miles away in a field next to the A29 near
Pulborough. In it lay the pathetic naked body of a little
girl who had everything to live for. As her mum told newsmen
at one of the press conferences: "She was growing
up fast, and was into the Spice Girls, clothes and make-up.
She was so full of life and such a little ball of excitement.
"If we'd given her a bag of old ribbons she would
have thrown her arms around us and said, 'That's just
what I always wanted'." Sarah's parents recalled
how she would nag them about their smoking worried the
habit would take them away from her.
Dad Michael said: "There are so many things I remember,
like the way she'd dress up in her mum's clothes and give
us a fashion show. I can see her in my mind all the time.
"It feels so still and quiet without her because
she was so loud and full of life so bubbly and light-hearted."
He added: "Whenever you think of Sarah you smile.
You just do. She's that kind of child. She's so sparkly-eyed."
This Christmas will be especially painful. The youngster's
mum said: "Sarah was eight but still believed in
Father Christmas because she wanted to. She loved the
magic of it all. "It was also her job to get us out
of bed, to make us laugh and put us in the mood for Christmas."
But she was a little girl who knew the true meaning of
Christmas. Although only eight, Sarah insisted on regularly
attending church. It was this sensible side of Sarah that
made her abduction all the more frustrating. She had learned
well the "stranger danger" message she and her
classmates had been taught at Bell Farm Primary School
in Hersham, Surrey.
Sarah had regularly lectured everyone else in the family
about the safety lesson. But it did not save the defenceless
child from the evil clutches of Whiting who in the few
seconds she was alone on a country lane near her grandparents'
home forced her into his filthy van. Sarah's family have
had to come to terms with letting their children play
on their own.
But her mum said: "We are parents who believe that
children should be children. "And they can't be children
if they are with adults all the time." Sarah's death
leaves a terrible void in the lives of her brothers Lee,
14, Luke, 13, and little sister Charlotte, seven. To them
she was like a "little mother."
It was a role described during Sarah's intensely moving
funeral at St Peter's Church in Hersham. Sara read out
a heartbreaking farewell letter to her daughter. She said:
"You've brought joy and made our lives full. "As
a sister you were great. Lee misses your chats. Luke misses
your rows. "And Charlotte your stories, your songs,
your games and most of all your huggles.
"As a daughter, my darling, oh Princess you were
perfect." Sarah's old teacher June Whittle spoke
tenderly of a youngster with a "cheering, sparkling
smile." She recalled: "She was a determined,
feisty little girl with strong spirits. "Caring,
vibrant, full of love and generosity. "My memory
is of Sarah and her mum greeting each other.
"The same bright looks, the same walk, the mannerisms.
Swinging arms, sometimes skipping, laughing and chatting,
eyes only for each other, seemingly oblivious to anyone
else."
Vicar Nick Whitehead glimpsed into a future Sarah was
not allowed to see when he predicted she would probably
have ended up as a teacher encouraging pupils of her own
and laughing with them. Summing up the memories of those
touched by the youngster's brief life, he described her
as "a smiling, happy and endearing girl who hated
stinging nettles, loved watching clouds and who, when
told off, could end up making you giggle with her."
He continued: "Sarah used to write letters to friends
and family which she ended: 'I love you so, so, so, so
very much.' "If God wrote letters he'd end them just
like Sarah." The youngster's final resting place
is smothered with flowers. A simple wooden cross bears
a silver plaque, inscribed: "Treasured memories.
Sarah Evelyn Isobel Payne. Died 17th July 2000. Aged 8
years." Although pathologists believe Sarah died
on July 1 the day she was snatched her death went unrecorded
until her body was discovered 16 days later. Her mum had
been so sure Sarah would be found alive she had packed
a holdall with new clothes for her daughter ready to take
to her at a moment's notice.
The holdall, nicknamed the "goal bag," also
contained favourite toys, books and treats. It was the
idea of family liaison cop Detective Sgt Sean Scott and
Sara kept it beside her virtually all the time. The officer
said: "I suggested the goal bag as something to occupy
Sara and Michael for a while. They were not sleeping,
spending most of their time just in limbo, smoking and
drinking endless cups of coffee.
Sara didn't want to sleep in case there was news. The
whole family were shellshocked." Sara had buoyed
herself with the thought of her daughter's glee at opening
the bag and seeing the goodies spill out. Detective Sgt
Scott recalled the moment he learned the hunt for Sarah
was over. The cop was in the incident room at Sussex Police
HQ.
He said: "Pagers and mobiles started going off and
we were told that a man had rung in saying he had found
a body. The news was coming over as a computer message,
scrolling up the screen as more info came in. First it
said just a body, then it was that of a small child, then
where it had been found. It was a very surreal moment
because everyone in the room had stopped, gone silent
and were all looking towards the computer.
It was eerie. You don't want it to happen but it has and,
bang now the whole team are up another gear. Now the search
is on to find not Sarah but the person who killed her.
I knew I had to get to the Paynes before they learnt the
news from the media or TV.
" The grim find meant that the only time the goal
bag was opened was by Sarah's mum when she tried to decide
whether her daughter should be buried in any of the new
clothes she had bought for her. Nestling among the cluster
of bright pink and yellow flowers which adorn Sarah's
grave is a statue of a little girl poring intently over
a book.
And attached to the top of the plain cross is a pink teddy
bear holding a large letter S in one paw and a badge featuring
a school photo of Sarah. The badge is part of the For
Sarah campaign launched by the youngster's parents in
a bid to protect other children from sick paedophiles
like Whiting.
Sara and Michael were determined their daughter's funeral
would be a celebration of her life and on her grave at
Burhill Cemetery in Hersham is a poignant testament to
Sarah's soaring spirit. It is a statue of an angel. With
its wings outspread. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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| Flowers in Gods Garden |
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| Paul Pearson |
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