A little girl lost, taken as she played. A desperate search. A family torn apart. And a monster who took a life in a moment of pure evil. The Murder of Sarah Payne: A Mother’s Story, Channel 5 2017
‘When children go missing and they’re abducted we know that 44% of them are killed within the first hour and 73% within the first three hours. And then you have 99% within the first 24 hours. ibid. Laura Richards, criminologist
Whiting was taken for questioning; he was held for three days but refused to cooperate. ibid.
‘Help Find Our Little Princess.’ ibid. Evening Standard
22 fibres from 5 different items found in his van. ibid.
On July 1st 2000 8-year-old Sarah Payne was snatched from the street in front of her grandparents’ house … The police desperately searched for the little girl. But Sarah would never be found. She had been abducted and murdered by a 41-year-old convicted paedophile called Roy Whiting. World’s Most Evil Killers s2e9: Roy Whiting, Sky Living 2018
Whiting served just two and a half years of his sentence and in 1997 he was back on the streets. ibid.
Sarah’s older brother Lee told police that he saw a man in a white van speeding away just after losing sight of his sister. ibid.
An emotional 19 days in the courtroom. ibid.
On 1st July 2000 8-year-old Sarah Payne was abducted from the Sussex coast. 3 weeks later her body was found. She’d been killed by a convicted paedophile. Fired by her grief, Sarah’s mother campaigned tirelessly to change the law allowing parents access to the sex offenders’ register. Sarah Payne: The Untold Story, ITV 2019
Her brother Lee mentioned a white van seen near the field where she was playing. ibid.
An 8-year-old girl snatched in broad daylight. The scene: the idyllic English countryside. The suspect: a local man with an horrific past … The murder that shook Britain. And a killer whose conviction provoked a change in the law. Sarah Payne: 5 Mistakes that Caught a Killer, Channel 5 2020
Their daughter had last been seen playing on a road-swing in a cornfield … Soon that picture was on the front pages of newspapers in Britain and the world. A smiling carefree child vanished and in danger. ibid.
A week after Sarah vanished police staged a reconstruction … ‘The biggest investigation that Sussex police had ever launched.’ ibid.
The helpline received more than 20,000 calls … Privately, police feared the worst … Police already had her killer in their sights: Roy Whiting, a convicted paedophile, had snatched Sarah from this lane as she had walked to her grandparent’s home. He later buried her lifeless body in a shallow grave in this field nineteen miles away. ibid.
His first crucial mistake: the location … When questioned by officers at his flat, his behaviour had raised suspicions. But Whiting was about to make another mistake that would prove he was lying: the white van … Another of his mistakes: the cover-up. ibid.
He’d abducted and sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl in Crawley in 1995. After serving just two and a half years he was released. ibid.
WHITMAN, CHARLES: Great Crimes & Trials TV - Deranged Killers: Charles Whitman TV - Charles Whitman - Tower 2016 -
July 1966: Here in Austin, Texas, just two weeks later an even more random mass killing [than Richard Speck] took place ... The first shot ripped in the leg of a student who was cycling round the campus. Three more fell in quick succession. By the time the gunman had finished he had killed twelve people at or near the Tower. Great Crimes & Trials s2e16: Charles Whitman, BBC 1994
His father was a believer in frequent physical punishment. ibid.
Whitman admitted to have fits of rage against family and friends and, that like his father, he beat his wife. He also revealed that he fantasised about shooting people from the university tower. ibid.
He seemed to be the All American boy. But dark thoughts cloud the mind of Charles J Whitman. On August 1st 1966 he barricaded himself at the top of the clock tower at the University of Texas and began shooting. In ninety-six minutes Charlie Whitman gunned down forty-five strangers, killing fourteen. Deranged Killers: Charles Whitman
Charlie nursed a hatred for his father. His violence wasn’t the only reason. ibid.
Whitman went to the home of his mother Margaret. She had recently moved to Austin to escape her brutal husband. Whitman attacked her as soon as he entered her flat. ibid.
Whitman had been taking amphetamines in the months leading up to the killings. ibid.
The bravery of a few officers would end the carnage. ibid.
Pathologists discovered that he had a brain tumour. ibid.
I have just taken my mother’s life. I am very upset over having done it. Charles Whitman
I never could make it. Charles Whitman, diary entry day of massacre
Stay away from the university area. There is a sniper on the university tower firing at will. Tower, radio station’ warning, 2010
I just felt this huge jolt. Like I’d stepped on this live wire. ibid. pregnant student
August 1st started out as a typical summer day in Austin, Texas. ibid. radio station
I realised there was someone shooting from the tower. ibid. photographer
After I got shot the baby never moved. ibid. pregnant student
I’ve never been more scared. ibid. rescuer
Consider yourself deputised. ibid. rozzer on roof to volunteer
WHITAKER, BART et al: People Magazine Investigates TV -
In Sugarland, Texas, there is a killer on the loose … Sugarland police know that the threat of an armed burglar who has already killed two people and who is on the run could send the community into a frenzy. People Magazine Investigates s3e7, ID 2018
Bart’s [Whitaker] SUV is found abandoned, the door is opened, the motor is running, and Bart is nowhere to be found. ibid.
‘So we believe Chris Brashear was the shooter [three of the Whitaker family], and we knew Steve Champagne was involved.’ ibid. rozzer
WHOMES, JACK ARTHUR: see ESSEX murders