Whiting minimum sentence cut by court

Mr Justice Simon's decision to cut Whiting's jail "tariff" from 50 years to 40 was greeted with outrage by Sarah's campaigning mother, Sara, and others who packed Court 28 at London's Royal Courts of Justice yesterday (Wednesday, June 9) morning.

However, the judge emphasised that Whiting's life sentence still applies and, despite the reduction in his minimum term, he will only ever be freed if the Parole Board decides he is safe to live in the community.

A moment's silence was observed in court to remember Sarah.

Snatched from field

The serial paedophile, aged 51, was put behind bars in 2001, after snatching Sarah from a cornfield at Kingston Gorse in July 2000, as she played happily with her brothers and sister.

Despite a massive police search and television appeals, it was 16 days before her body was found buried in a shallow roadside grave.

After his trial it emerged that Whiting had also abducted and and sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl in Crawley, West Sussex, in 1995.

Whiting used a white van to kidnap Sarah, converting the vehicle into a "moving prison", complete with a rope, a knife, cable ties and baby oil.

After the killing, he changed the van's doors and tried to clean away all traces of Sarah in a bid to cover his tracks.

Life imprisonment

The judge at Whiting's trial recommended that he spend the rest of his natural life behind bars, but the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, recommended a 28-year tariff.

Lord Woolf was overruled by the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who said that Whiting must serve at least 50 years behind bars for his appalling crime.

At the High Court, Whiting's lawyers argued 50 years was "disproportionate" and his tariff should be cut to the 28 years recommended by Lord Woolf.

However, Crown lawyers said that, were he being jailed today under much tougher sentencing guidelines now in force, Whiting would have received a "whole life" tariff.

Mother's grief

Fixing Whiting's minimum term at 40 years, Mr Justice Simon said he had taken into account a "very moving" victim impact statement from Sara Payne, in which she described the devastating impact of Sarah's murder on her and the wider family.

The judge also pointed out the "striking similarity" between Sarah's murder and Whiting's previous offence.

In 1995, he had been handed a four-year jail term after he admitted kidnapping and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in Crawley.

In that case, Whiting had grabbed the girl from the street, using a car he had bought within the previous fortnight, and sexually assaulted her after threatening to tie her up.

Life inside

But the judge nevertheless ruled that a 40-year minimum was sufficient to meet the requirements of retribution and deterrence in the case of Whiting, who is currently serving his sentence at HMP Wakefield.

The judge emphasised that it would be for the Parole Board to rule on whether Whiting was ever safe enough to live in the community.

He will be in his 80s before he has any chance of release and, if freed, will remain on perpetual life licence, subject to prison recall if he puts a foot wrong.

DI Jeff Riley, of Sussex Police's major crime branch, said: "Roy Whiting was quite rightly convicted for this terrible crime and given a life sentence.

"The court has reduced his tariff on appeal. This decision has come 10 years after the abduction and tragic death of Sarah in July 2000 and has clearly had a significant impact on Sarah's family and our thoughts are with them today."

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