Sarah trial: white van evidence

A woman motorist saw a white van speeding from the spot where murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne was snatched and driven to her death, a court heard today.

Mrs Cynthia Read was running late as she left her home in East Preston, West Sussex, to baby-sit for her son, she told the jury on the third day of the trial of Roy Whiting at Lewes Crown Court.

As she drove along North Lane towards Orchard Road she saw a white van ignore a give-way sign and pull out from Kingston Lane "without hesitating", she said.

Mrs Read later contacted police after watching a reconstruction on television of the last moments eight-year-old Sarah was seen alive, the jury heard.

Whiting denies kidnapping and murdering Sarah.

Questioned by Crispin Aylett, junior counsel for the prosecution, Mrs Read said: "As I approached Orchard Road I noticed a white van pull out into North Lane without hesitating. It was coming out of Kingston Lane.

"I saw the van drive quite quickly. It then disappeared and I did not see it again. I can only say it was a white van. I saw it from the side view."

Cross-examined by Sally O'Neill, defending, Mrs Read said she had left work in Arundel half-an-hour late on the evening of July 1, adding: "I was in a hurry."

Asked by Miss O'Neill asked if she had ever seen a vehicle pull out from Kingston Lane without stopping at the give-way sign, Mrs Read said: "I cannot recall any occasion before."

Asked if she was certain that she had left home at 7.40pm on July 1, and that she had seen the van about a minute later, Mrs Read said: "I am certain. I was very late from work.

"I left work at 6.15pm and I would normally leave at 5.45pm. I was on my way to my son's in Storrington, which is about 20 minutes' drive away. I was due at my son's at 7.30pm, and timing was very important."

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