Killer of schoolgirl Sarah 'will die in jail'

ROY WHITING, the killer of British schoolgirl Sarah Payne, has been caged for at least 50 years, it was confirmed yesterday.

British Home Secretary David Blunkett has ruled he must serve half a century before being eligible for

parole. The decision effectively means Whiting, 43, will die in jail.

It was welcomed by Sarah's mother, Sara, who feared he would be freed within 20 years to prey on her

grandchildren.

"We can finally step out of his shadow now," she said yesterday.

"When we told the children the news there were big smiles from the boys."

Whiting, a mechanic from Littlehampton, West Sussex, is locked up in maximum security Wakefield Prison after being jailed last December.

He murdered Sarah after snatching her from a cornfield near her grandparents' house in Kingston Gorse, west Sussex.

A Home Office spokeswoman last night said: "The Home Secretary has set his tariff for 50 years.

"It is entirely consistent with recent decisions to set tariffs of 50 years for other offenders convicted of the abduction and murder of young children in comparable circumstances."

However, it was not clear if any other offender had been set a 50-year tariff.

Mr Blunkett later was accused of trying to divert attention away from the British government's "mishandling" of the firefighters strike by ruling Whiting must be caged for at least 50 years.

Shadow chancellor and former home secretary Michael Howard questioned why the announcement had been made on a Sunday.

He suggested the news had been released "as part of the government's news agenda to try and divert attention from the mess the government is in on the economy, on the firefighters strike and on so many other issues".

Mr Howard did not "quarrel" with the half-century tariff, adding: "It may very well be that I would have set a similar tariff if I'd still been home secretary."

He added: "I champion the right of the home secretary to have this power. I agree with David Blunkett that the home secretary should continue to have this power.

"But it does not help our cause when a serious announcements of this kind are realised on a Sunday instead of being told first to parliament, realised as part of the government's news agenda to try and divert attention from the mess the government is in on the economy, on the firefighters strike and on so many other issues." Meanwhile, British home office minister Lord Falconer of Thoroton said the decision to imprison Whiting for at least 50 years sent out the "clearest possible signal" that in some cases "life should definitely mean life".

The Lords spokesman confirmed Whiting would "effectively spend the rest of his life in prison".

He said: "There are certain cases where life should definitely mean life and if it doesn't mean life there would be people in this country who would rightly think the criminal justice system was not producing punishments which fit the crime."

Yesterday's announcement came as law lords prepare to rule on a judgment by the European Convention of Human Rights on the right of the home secretary to impose tariffs in murder cases.