Pay back time
By Hayley Barlow & David McGee
ANTI-PAEDOPHILE campaigner Sara Payne cowered in terror as her drunken estranged husband Michael's fists and boots hammered into her.
It was the moment his dark anguish over the murder of their eight-year-old daughter Sarah five years ago exploded into the most brutal and uncontrollable violence.
And for frightened Sara—separated from him for nearly a year—it was the final act in the destruction of their lives that began the summer day child sex monster Roy Whiting abducted their little girl.
For when she cried out to Michael, "Why are you doing this?", all he could snarl back was: "It's pay-back time."
Mum Sara called the police. And on Thursday Michael, 36, pleaded guilty to common assault and criminal damage in the attack at Sara's home in Hersham, Surrey last Saturday night.
He was also charged with breaching bail conditions imposed on him at the police station that night—because he made a phone call to Sara the evening before his court case.
The case was adjourned for probation reports as magistrate Malcolm Tullett told him: "Because of the serious nature of the offences a custodial sentence must be considered."
The court heard how jobless Michael arrived at 36-year-old Sara's home at 4.30pm. Prosecuting solicitor Donna Webster told the court he had been drinking heavily.
"The couple have been separated over a year ago due to problems in their relationships, particularly when the defendant is in drink," said Ms Webster.
"A verbal exchange took place, but Mrs Payne was aware that the defendant had been drinking. The defendant left the house and reappeared again at around 8.45pm."
Ms Webster told the court that Michael, of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, left Sara's home only to reappear again at around 11.15pm.
Ms Webster said: "The defendant banged on the door but was asked to leave by Mrs Payne as she didn't want any trouble.
"At this stage the defendant entered the property. Mrs Payne became increasingly scared, so much so that she telephoned the police.
"She was so scared of the behaviour of the defendant that she stayed at the entrance to her home awaiting the arrival of the police.
"It is fair to say that she was extremely frightened and fearful of her former husband. At this stage the defendant started to punch and kick his former wife.
"Mrs Payne has suffered injuries to her side. She was left extremely sore by the attack."
Ms Webster then describes how, having finished beating Sara, Michael then left the house and started to smash up a 50cc moped parked outside. "On seeing his actions Mrs Payne asked the defendant: ‘What are you doing?" and the defendant replied: "It's pay-back time".
Michael did £300 worth of damage to the moped before disappearing into the night. Police later arrested him nearby.
Jocelynne Freeman, defending, said that her client admitted the charges of common assault and criminal damage.
She added; "My client says that Sara slapped him. But he accepts that he chased her into the house and that she was cowering and that he hit her. But he denies kicking her."
Mrs Freeman told the court how Michael "was the victim of murder in 2000".
She said: "He and his wife had five children. You may recall one of his children was murdered, and as a result of that matter there has been a complete change in him."
The Payne's daughter Sarah vanished from near her grandparents' home in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex, in July 2000. Her body was found in a shallow grave near a main road two weeks later.
Mr Tullet—chairman of North Surrey magistrates—told Mrs Freeman that the bench would need to consider probation reports before passing sentence. He adjourned the case to May 10 and the breach of bail charge was laid on file.
Michael, accompanied to the court by a male friend, was again released on police bail, with the condition that he only contact his former wife and his family through his solicitor.
It wasn't the first time fists have flown in the tragic marriage. Michael has confessed to hitting Sara before—driven by the rage he felt at losing Sarah.
And Sara has also admitted getting into fights with her former husband.
In an interview with the News of the World three months after their split in September 2003, Michael told us: "We broke up when I realised I had the power to badly hurt someone I truly loved.
"I know that when I hit Sara I was actually attacking Whiting. And Sara feels the same about when she attacked me."
Michael said he first hit Sara when they were in a New York hotel room in October 2000, where they were to appear on a special Trevor McDonald Tonight show on US sex offender laws.
He added: "We were rowing because I didn't want to be there. We were in our hotel room and at each other's throats.
"I slapped Sara in the face, then stormed out the room and went for a few drinks.
"That was the way I coped. I came back an hour later and said sorry, but the incidents were getting more frequent."
Michael said that the violence became worse after Whiting, 44, was jailed for life in December 2001.
The distraught dad's frustration boiled over at an awards ceremony in London in 2002 when he got drunk and stormed out after smashing a window.
By then he was drinking up to eight cans of lager a day to numb the pain. Sara was so depressed she found it difficult to leave the house and just sat watching TV for hours at a time.
They decided he should move out in 2003 after she fell pregnant with daughter Ellie, who was born in December of that year.
Sara revealed how they got into a drunken fight while staying in a caravan with friends after Whiting had been arrested.
They went to the pub while their friends Jenny and Ian looked after their three other children.
In her book Sara Payne: A Mother's Story—serialised in the News of the World—Sara recalled: "Mike and I drank heavily, even by our standards, downing pint after pint.
"That night we got drunk like we used to: happy, stupid, falling over, giggling drunk.
"In the pub, I jumped on a table, grabbed the DJ's mike and sang off key, to whatever disco classic was playing. Nobody looked disapproving-I think they all thought, Good for you'.
"But sadly, as we all started the ten-minute walk back to the caravan, Mike and I began bickering.
"And that's when the row soon turned into a full-scale fight with us pushing and hitting one another, so Jenny and Ian hurried the children back to the caravan."
They got over that fight. But, in the midst of all the insurmountable pain they faced, it was only the beginning of their terrible tragedy.
