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Viewers Left 'Heartbroken' By ITV's Sarah Payne Documentary

Viewers Left 'Heartbroken' By ITV's Sarah Payne Documentary

The 'heart wrenching' documentary saw Sarah Payne's mum revisit the spot her daughter was last seen

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

Viewers tuned in to watch Susanna Reid's ITV documentary Sarah Payne: The Untold Story and were left feeling 'heartbroken' by the tragic tale of a murder that shook the nation.

Sarah Payne was only eight years old when she went missing, after playing on the beach with her siblings on 1 July 2000.

Sarah's mum, Sara, 50, spoke about the 'determination' and 'true belief' she has that her daughter would be found.

Prior to her death, the kids had been playing on the beach, near to their grandparents home. Sarah had fallen down and had an argument with her brother Luke, before leaving to return to the fields by their house alone.

It was the last time she was seen before paedophile Roy Whiting picked her up in a van - which one of her brothers saw, not knowing his sister was in the back.

Sarah's mum and dad ended up separating.
ITV

Sarah's body was eventually found on 17 July in a field near Pulborough, West Sussex, around 15 miles from where she had last been seen.

Whiting was convicted of abducting and killing her just weeks later and jailed for life with a minimum term of 50 years (which was later reduced to 40 years after an appeal) following a four week trial.



Following on from her daughter's death, Sara started to campaign for child protection and fought to ensure that sex offenders can no longer hide their criminal history and potentially be enabled to put other children at risk.

Sarah's Law came into effect in 2011, allowing parents to ask police if anyone with access to their child has a record for child sexual offences.

Sara Payne said that she had taken pride in knowing that her daughter would have gone to save 'a lot' of children through the law.

Sara was made an MBE in December 2008 in the New Year Honours list.

Featured Image Credit: ITV

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film