Sarah Payne's murderer has jail term reduced by ten years
Sarah Payne's murderer Roy Whiting has had his jail term reduced from 50 to 40 years
Wednesday, 09, Jun 2010 11:11
By Sarah Garrod.
The murderer of Sarah Payne, Roy Whiting, has had his jail term reduced today from 50 to 40 years at the high court.
Sarah's mother Sara Payne told reporters outside the court that "life should mean life" but added "we have no choice, we have to accept this".
Whiting, 51, was not in court to hear the decision. He must now spend 40 years in jail before being permitted to apply for parole. In 2001 he was jailed for life for the kidnap and murder of eight-year-old Sarah in West Sussex.
Today high court judge Mr Justice Simon cut the 50-year term set by former home secretary David Blunkett. However, Mr Justice Simon reiterated that Whiting's sentence remained one of imprisonment for life and that he would be detained "unless and until the Parole Board is satisfied that he no longer presents a risk to the public".
He added: "I invite everyone present in court, before we go about our daily business, to pause and for a moment remember Sarah Payne, who would now be 18 if she had not been murdered, and reflect the grave loss her death has caused to her family and others who loved her."
Mrs Payne who has campaigned for victim's rights and child safety laws since the death of her little girl was in court today to hear the ruling despite being critically ill in the last year. She was made an MBE for services to child protection in 2008.
She said outside the court today: "He [Whiting] will remain a danger to children as long as he lives and breathes.
"There's no parole date for the family. There's no end to this. Roy Whiting changed our lives and he had no right to do that.
"We expected it [the sentence] to be cut and to be honest it could have been a lot worse than it was. I will keep campaigning for a safer Britain for children."