| Flowers in Gods Garden
- Articles |
13/12/01 - SON OF A PAEDOPHILE
By David Pilditch And Jon Clements
The Mirror
THE father of child-killer Roy Whiting is a convicted
paedophile, it was revealed last night. Whiting also
claims he was abused at home by dad George - and took
revenge many years later by tampering with the brakes
on his car.
George Whiting, now 72, survived the horror crash that
followed, but has never driven again. His mechanic son
blamed many of his emotional problems on his dad. But
the murder of Sarah Payne brought the father-and-son
perverts back together.
Whiting, 42, who had already patched up their relationship,
borrowed £500 from George to buy the white van
he used to imprison Sarah. Last night as Whiting - a
loner obsessed with children - started life in jail,
his father was facing up to his own shameful past.
When Whiting was seven, George sexually assaulted a
girl of 11 at a swimming pool in Crawley, West Sussex.
He had taken sons Roy and Peter on a Sunday morning
trip to their local pool. George admitted the offence
in court saying: "I'm ashamed of myself."
He was put on probation.
In a 1965 local paper report, it was revealed that George
grabbed hold of the girl, who was swimming with a schoolfriend,
pulled her towards him and committed the offence. The
girl told her parents about her ordeal and later identified
him. When police saw George, he said he had merely stopped
the girl swimming towards him. But he later confessed.
George was also told to stay away from an adventure
playground after a child was allegedly molested. No
action was taken and a neighbour said the incident was
"swept under the carpet".
Roy Whiting was born on January 26, 1959, at Horsham
hospital and was brought up in an end of terrace house
in Martyrs Avenue, Langley Green, Crawley, with brother
Peter, now 43, and sister Gill, 36. Mother Pamela was
left by sheet-metal worker George to raise the youngsters
virtually alone.
She had a series of nervous breakdowns. A family friend
said: "Pam was left to do everything. She had to
do part-time jobs, look after the children and run the
house." When Whiting was 17, his mother walked
out and later re-married. He had learning difficulties
at school and hated authority.
He always sought refuge at the Langley Green adventure
playground, which he continued to visit into his 30s.
Les Pelham, 47, a helper there in Whiting's schoolboy
days, said: "It was a place where you could build
bonfires and camps and Roy was there all the time."
At 15, Whiting was a founder member of the Crawley Greyhounds
cycle speedway team, later the Crawley Tigers, based
at the playground. After leaving school, he became a
window cleaner. While friends began to discover girls,
he became more of a loner.
Paul Hawkins, 43, who was in the same year at school,
said: "We would joke when we walked past good-
looking girls, as young men do, and ask Roy what he
thought of them. "But he didn't like that at all
and would never say anything. In fact I never saw him
with a girl."
Whiting's obsession with children was also driving him
to hang around schools, as well as the adventure playground.
Richard Walsh moved in next door to the Whiting family
in 1978 when Roy was 19. He recalled pupils saying they
had seen Roy "hanging around outside the gates
and he would sometimes have sweets".
At the same time, Whiting and playground helper Pelham,
five years older, started a banger racing team. Whiting
took a course in car mechanics in nearby Lancing, before
working as a repairman at garages. He earned extra money
clocking cars and issuing dodgy certificates.
He progressed to bigger teams in banger racing, such
as the Devil Dogs and then the Gatwick Flyers, where
he was called The Flying Fish. Whiting offered his services
as a babysitter and one teammate made him godfather
to his daughter. He married in 1986 and had a son, now
13. Friends said he never spoke about his wife.
He is now divorced and ended up living out in his rented
workshop near Gatwick Airport. He slept on a camp bed
and cooked on an open stove, but had no running water
or toilet. Workmate Dave Coles said: "He smelled
so bad one day one of the lads hosed him down."
It was about 1989 that Whiting is said to have "fixed"
the car accident meant to kill his father as revenge
for his own alleged abuse.
George was half a mile from home when his saloon careered
out of control on a roundabout, smashed through a barrier
and hurtled across a pedestrian area. Shoppers ran for
their lives as the runaway automatic ploughed through
a shop window. George escaped with cuts and bruises.
Whiting, who had been maintaining and servicing the
car, said he had cut the brake pipes. His best friend
from school, Ian Hodder, 42, said: "I remember
it because my sister was nearly killed. "She was
walking along the pavement when the car came flying
past before crashing into the shop.
"Everybody thought it was just an accident, but
years later Roy told the police he tried to murder his
father. "He told them he had tampered with the
brakes. Roy told them it was because of what his father
had done to him. "Nobody really knows what went
on behind closed doors. Roy never spoke about it."
His childhood friend Paul Hawkins said none of Roy's
friends was ever allowed into house. He added: "It
was very odd - you were always left waiting on the doorstep."
It was 1995 when Whiting told police about his part
in the crash. His confession is believed to have been
an attempt to wriggle away from justice after his arrest
for the kidnap and sexual assault of a nine-year-old
girl in Crawley.
In court, Whiting's lawyers made a reference to the
abuse he told police his father had carried out. Referring
to those claims, defence barrister Philip Marshall told
the judge: "That incident is perhaps indicative
of what has happened now. "He has on a previous
occasion been obliged through a need for self-defence
in a way to draw down a conscious barrier. "He
has done that for the last 25 years in respect of that
incident."
Whiting was convicted, but released from a four-year
sentence after two years. He came out to live in a flat
overlooking a primary school in Crawley - and was hunted
down by a vigilante mob of old friends from his banger
racing days. A friend of Whiting's sister Gill said:
"Someone who knows Roy let slip the address where
he had moved, to a friend. When he discovered it was
next to a school, he was horrified.
He put out a broadcast on his CB radio and a group of
Whiting's old racing friends decided to sort it out.
"They were going to grab him and tie him to the
back of one of the racing cars and drag him around.
"Somebody lost their bottle and called the police
and they got him out. I wish they had never bothered."
Whiting was later forced out and moved to Littlehampton
after residents campaigned about another paedophile
living nearby. His sister's friend added: "I think
they were wrong to hound him out of Crawley. Everyone
knew he was a paedophile and people were watching him.
He was a marked man.
"If he hadn't been driven out of Crawley, Sarah
Payne might still be alive today." As the Sarah
investigation progressed, Whiting - out on bail after
being arrested - went to live with his father, before
being driven out by more stone-throwing vigilantes.
At the time, The Mirror confronted George at the family
home where Whiting and his brother and sister had grown
up. George was angry over a police search of the house
and said: "Four of them came round at 10.30pm.
They were here until midnight. "They had a warrant
and searched the entire house.
They were trying to trick me into saying something that
would give them a case. "They were asking about
his van. Roy had come round the previous weekend. He
wanted to buy a van and borrowed £500 from me
to get it." He added: "They've got no evidence.
They're clutching at straws." |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
|
|
| Flowers in Gods Garden |
|
| Paul Pearson |
|
| Rosie Palmer |
|
| Sophie Hook |
|
| Sarah Payne |
|
| Victoria Climbie |
|
| Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman |
- Documents
- Audio
|
| The Yorkshire Ripper |
- Video
|
|
