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Rebekah Brooks (left) standing next to Sara Payne in October 2002. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/Press Association Images

News of the World targeted phone given to Sara Payne as a gift

Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in 2000, wrote a column for the News of the World’s final edition.

SARA PAYNE, THE mother of eight-year-old Sarah Payne who was abducted and murdered in 2000, has been told that her phone was targeted by the News of the World.

The Guardian reports that the News of the World gave the phone to Payne as a gift. Brooks, and the paper, had supported a campaign to bring about Sara’s Law, which gave parents access to information about paedophiles living in their area.

Eight-year-old Sarah Payne had been abducted and murdered by convicted sex offender Roy Whiting.

It’s emerged that Payne’s details were found among the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator hired by the News of the World.

Brooks and Sara Payne had become good friends, and The Guardian reports that the bereaved mother had considered those at the News of the World as friends and allies. Brooks released a statement today saying that the allegations are ‘abhorrent’, while Payne is said to ‘devastated’. Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International, News of the World’s parent company, on 15 July.

Brooks has claimed that she never heard the name of Glenn Mulcaire until 2006, and said she only learned of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone when it emerged a few weeks ago.

Payne had written an article (reproduced here by The Telegraph) for the final edition of the News of the World, calling the paper a ‘force for good’. In that article she mentioned the rumours that her own phone had been hacked, but dismissed it as just a rumour.

Read more in the Guardian: News of the World targeted phone of Sarah’s Payne’s mother>

Phone hacking scandal: Sara Payne’s NOTW article in full>

Listen: Piers Morgan drawn into hacking scandal after 2009 interview emerges>

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5 Comments
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    Mute Emmet Galvin
    Favourite Emmet Galvin
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    Jul 28th 2011, 6:38 PM

    Never anything more than a rag run by low lifes willing to do anything for a ‘story’.

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    Mute Conor Kirwan
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    Jul 28th 2011, 8:57 PM

    Good God this scandal just gets more and more disturbed by the minute. Rebekah Brooks, ever the master of spin and seduction actually befriended Sara and gave her a phone so that her hired goons could maintain surveillance. She watched with delight in her eyes as Sara wrote for the last ever edition of her filthy rag, describing it in glowing terms, all the while fully knowing of course that Sara was one of the victims of her hideous gutter-press tactics. If it weren’t true, nobody would believe it plausible. Sick, sick, sick.

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    Mute Guinness Follower
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    Jul 28th 2011, 9:15 PM

    ‘Friends of Payne have told the Guardian that she is “absolutely devastated and deeply disappointed” at the disclosure’.

    What a load of horse shit. Unless it comes from the horses mouth, it shouldn’t be reported as fact.

    Just sayin….

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    Mute Lisa Saputo
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    Jul 29th 2011, 10:44 AM

    I heard all this about two weeks ago, well read it in Popbitch. I would believe it, a lot of their stories eventually make it to print.

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    Mute Paul Clarkson
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    Jul 29th 2011, 9:27 AM

    I’d wait to see if there is any truth in this from other more reputable news sources.
    The Guardian aren’t exactly sticking to the unbiased truth with the ongoing allegations.

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