The tragic schoolgirl had been playing with her brothers and sister before running away over a minor row
THE heartbroken brother and sister of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne have revealed the traumatic moment she ran away over a minor sibling row before being snatched by a paedophile killer.
Eight-year-old Sarah was abducted and murdered by Roy Whiting in July 2000 after being grabbed near her home in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex.
The tragic schoolgirl had been playing with siblings Luke, Charlotte and Lee before she ran off.
Lee, then 13, chased after her but could only look on in horror as he saw Whiting smiling and waving from his white van as he drove away with his sister.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Luke revealed the moment he told Sarah "just go" during the row, before sensing something was wrong.
He said: "We were just playing a game in a field like you would every day, she'd slipped and fallen over and hurt herself, then her and Lee ended up having a little tiff.
"She got the right hump and decided to duck off out of the field and was running up the field, so I ran up after her.
"I got to where she was, halfway through the field, and I was begging her to come back but she wouldn't.
"So, I kind of lost my temper with her and said 'Go on then, fine, just go'
"I've turned around and ran back, but as soon as I got back to Lee and Charlotte, I just knew. Something inside me just knew that something wasn't right.
"She had got to the end of the field, and that's when Lee decided to run after her."
After Sarah's murder, mum Sara campaigned for Sarah's Law which allows parents, carers and guardians to ask the police if a person in contact with a child has a record of child sex offending.
Sara recently appeared on ITV's Loose Women and revealed how letters she wrote to her daughter helped her cope.
She opened up about her daily fight “not to be angry” as she joined Andrea McLean, Linda Robson, Gloria Hunniford and Kaye Adams to talk about the trauma of losing a child.
Speaking on Loose Woman, an emotional Sara read out a letter to her daughter and said: “We have to remember there is always hope, and you are one of those hopes.”
She added: “She’s changed the world of child protection.
“What she’s done in her death I wish she’d have had the chance to have that in her life.
“It was really important to me that Sarah was remembered and not him.”
The letters feature in a book called Letters to Sarah which was published last week.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun last week, Sara described her book as “the most honest I have ever given”.
She said: “I talk to Sarah almost every day in my head about mundane things like the weather. It helps me feel closer to her.
“Writing letters to her has helped to make up in a small way for the teenage years and beyond that I didn’t get with her — it has made her more real. It is hard to imagine how she would now be as a 25-year-old. I can hear her giggling. I can see her mischievous smile.
“For me I want to always remember her as that lovely, sweet eight-year-old girl.”
Sarah Payne: A Mother’s Story will air on Channel 5 tonight.
