Wakefield prison officer Alex Dyson was the first at the scene when Andrew Light attacked Sarah Payne killer Roy Whiting, hearing a faint cry for help coming from D wing
An inmate ‘furiously stabbed’ child killer Roy Whiting and then said ‘that is for Sarah Payne ‘, a court heard today.
Wakefield prison officer Alex Dyson was the first at the scene when Andrew Light attacked Whiting on February 11 last year. He heard a faint cry for help from D Wing and initially thought that it was coming from cell D241 which was used for disabled prisoners.
But then he realised the ‘commotion’ was coming from Whiting’s cell next door. He found Light holding Whiting around the waist and stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach, Leeds crown court heard.
In his statement, Dyson said Light had told him ‘that was for Sarah Payne’ following the attack. He was unclear exactly when he said it due to the ‘high intensity situation’.
“I made the statement 18 months ago now, and I would have a much better recollection of the incident than I do now,” he said. The jury was told that Whiting had been in Wakefield jail since his conviction for the murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in 2001.
Giving evidence on day two of the trial of Light for the attempted murder of Whiting, Mr Dyson told the jury: “I could see Roy Whiting in the doorway trying to get away from Andrew Light standing by him.
“He had his arm around him, his left arm was around Roy Whiting’s waist and he was holding him to stop him from getting away.
“In his right hand he had a weapon which was about 6in long. He was stabbing him in the stomach from behind.
“There was a lot of blood on the floor from the weapon.”
Whiting, 66, was ‘pulling at a cupboard’ to try and get himself away from Light, he said. Mr Dyson added: “He was stabbing him around the front and in the stomach, around that portion of his body.
“He was doing it quite furiously with a lot of force, I thought that he was killing him because there was a lot of blood. It looked horrific.” In his statement, Mr Dyson said that Light had said ‘that is for Sarah Payne’ after he put the weapon down.
Under cross examination, John Elvidge KC said those words could not be heard on body cam footage of the incident taken by Mr Dyson. Mr Dyson replied: “It was a high intensity situation.
“I have probably got the time line wrong.” But he said that Light had said it at some point. Light, 45, pleaded guilty to assaulting Whiting. But he denies attempting to murder him and the alternative charge of wounding with intent. The jury was shown the weapon used in the attack and found in the cell by Daniel Hegarty, a prison officer and part of the cell search team. The court heard that Whiting was found with bleeding to the left side of his head, but did not need to go to hospital. The injury to his ear was glued.
Dressed in a grey T-shirt, and wearing steel rimmed specs, Whiting gave evidence for 45 minutes with a prison officer by his side in the witness box on Monday.
Whiting said White attacked him with an improvised bladed weapon, a wooden shank, battering him about the head, neck and body, with a blow to the ear resulting in heavy blood loss.
Michael Smith, prosecuting, told the jury that he was not inviting sympathy for Whiting. He added: “The attack was with intent to kill Roy Whiting, or an attempt to cause him really serious harm.”
Whiting is serving a life sentence for Sarah’s murder more than 20 years ago, the jury heard. Mr Smith said Light told prison staff that he “hoped” Whiting was dead.
The trial at Leeds crown court continues.