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Sarah Payne photos in killer's cell
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The mother of Sarah Payne has told of her "anger and dismay" after being told her daughter's killer was found with pictures of the girl in his cell.
Roy Whiting, 51, reportedly had newspaper and magazine cuttings about the eight-year-old and other young girls in his cell at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire.
The disturbing discovery was made during a routine search and detailed in a prison report seen by the Sunday Mirror.
Sarah's mother, children's campaigner Sara Payne, told the News of the World: "I felt anger and dismay when told what he had been doing. This is extremely unfortunate and gives me the creeps.
"We live in an age where material like this is easily available and the Prison Service can only do its best to try and restrict it."
She added: "Collecting newspaper clippings is, I am sure, Roy Whiting and other paedophiles' way of trying to intimidate the families of their victims."
The Sunday Mirror quoted the 2009 prison report as saying: "It is of serious concern that the security information indicates hidden newspaper cuttings of Mr Whiting's victim and young girls were discovered during a cell search. It appears that his interest in young girls continues to be evident within the prison environment."
The report said Whiting refused to accept responsibility for Sarah's murder. He killed her in 2000.
She vanished while playing with her brothers and sister in a field near her grandparents' house in Littlehampton, West Sussex. Search teams looked for 16 days before her naked body was found 12 miles away.
A Prison Service spokeswoman said: "Where inappropriate materials are found in prisoners' cells they are immediately removed and the prisoner may be subject to disciplinary proceedings."
Reader views (2)
If the Prison Service is "unable" - supposedly - to keep drugs and cell-phones out of prisons, it seems unlikely it could ever do much about press cuttings. The questions should be:
1/ Why is security so pathetic?
2/ Who is responsible?
3/ How about sacking the excuse-makers, and employing people who are effective?
- Croyboy, Croydon, 21/03/2010 15:11
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What is wrong with the prisons . There should be nothing inside except a bed.
- Beth Dwyer, London UK, 21/03/2010 12:56
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