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13/12/01 - Sarah's mum forced to
face three more days of torment
By MARTIN WALLACE
The Sun
TRAGIC Sarah Payne's mum suffered fresh agony yesterday
when the trial of the man accused of killing her eight-year-old
daughter was dramatically halted. The jury at Lewes
Crown Court, Sussex, was discharged and a fresh trial
ordered after a "procedural irregularity"
was discovered.
Mum Sara was due to step into the witness box to give
evidence. But she must now wait until Monday before
facing the ordeal and describing her final moments with
pixie-faced schoolgirl Sarah. The trial will begin again
this morning before a new jury, sworn in yesterday afternoon.
They will hear prosecutor Timothy Langdale QC make his
harrowing opening submission for the second time. Sara,
32, had sat in a tiny sideroom next to Court No 1 for
a day and a half as Mr Langdale opened the Crown's case
against Roy Whiting, 42 accused of kidnapping and murdering
little Sarah last summer.
She had been expecting to be called as a prosecution
witness yesterday afternoon until judge Richard Curtis
suddenly halted the trial and discharged the jury. The
astonishing development came just after 11am when Mr
Langdale was interrupted mid-speech by a note handed
to him by his junior Crispin Aylett.
The QC called for an adjournment and, while the original
jury was sent out of the courtroom, counsel from both
sides met in chambers with the trial judge. When proceedings
re-started an hour and 40 minutes later.
Judge Curtis thanked the puzzled jurors for their patience
before announcing: "I'm sorry to say I've had a
report that shows a procedural irregularity. "The
result of that is I'm going to discharge you from further
jury duties.
"I regret it. It is one of those things. It's the
fault of neither party in this case." Before being
sworn in, the new jurors were asked if they had been
involved in the search for Sarah, helped Sussex Police
with their inquiries, or were related to the Payne and
Whiting families or any members of the police inquiry
team.
Mr Langdale was outlining forensic evidence when the
trial stopped. He had told the jury of "compelling
evidence" found on one of Sarah's black shoes the
only piece of her clothing recovered following her horrific
abduction and murder in July last year.
The QC said scientist Ray Chapman had examined a red
sweatshirt and a clown-design curtain found in Whiting's
white F-reg Fiat Ducato van. DNA results showed the
shirt belonged to Whiting, the court heard. Mr Langdale
then said four fibres were found on Sarah's shoe-strap.
He added: "They matched the red sweatshirt. "Among
other fibres on the strap was one that matched the curtain."
The QC told jurors: "The prosecution say this evidence,
taken into account with all other circumstances in this
case, points quite conclusively to this defendant's
guilt."
Sarah disappeared while playing with her sister and
two brothers in a cornfield near her grandparents' home
in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex. Mr Langdale said mechanic
Whiting had extensive knowledge of the area where she
vanished on July 1 AND that around the A29 near Pulborough
where her naked body was found in a shallow grave 16
days later.
He told the jury how Whiting, of Littlehampton, began
helping local builders and had worked on a house just
yards from the cornfield for several months, He stopped
a fortnight before the abduction. Divorced Whiting was
regularly seen walking the owner Brian Wawman's dog
in the area.
Mr Langdale said: "On a number of occasions he
told Mr Wawman about the dog doing its business in one
of the fields. "It's clear from that evidence that
Roy Whiting had a close knowledge of that immediate
area."
Mr Langdale also told how Whiting had worked on houses
in the area surrounding the field where Sarah's body
was found. When police searched his seaside flat they
found a prospectus for Brisbury Agricultural College
less than half a mile from the grave. Whiting denies
kidnapping and murdering Sarah. |
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