Sara Payne Redefining Justice campaign.Victims' Champion Sara Payne addresses a news conference on Redefining Justice, at London Thistle Hotel.
Mother of Murder Victim and Alleged Hacking Victim
After Sara Payne's 8-year-old daughter Sarah was kidnapped and murdered in West Sussex in 2000, the News of the World threw its weight behind Payne's successful campaign to enact "Sarah's Law," which allows U.K. parents to check whether people with access to their children are sex offenders. On 28 July, 2011, it was revealed that Payne was a potential phone hacking victim of the paper's investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. Scotland Yard investigators recently discovered Payne's personal details in Mulcaire's notes, after telling her earlier that there was no evidence she was a target. The revelation has the flavor of betrayal — after Sarah disappeared, Payne was befriended by then-editor of the News of the World Rebekah Brooks. The number in Mulcaire's notes is alleged to be that of a cell phone Brooks gave to Payne to keep in touch with supporters. Before the revelation, Payne penned a farewell column for the final edition of News of the World, calling the tabloid "a force for good."Read: "A New Outrage: Was a Murdered Girl's Mom Another Victim of Phone-Hacking?"