A man was charged today with the murder of British schoolgirl Sarah Payne.
Mr Roy Whiting (42) of Littlehampton, West Sussex, was also charged with the kidnapping of the eight-year-old, who was snatched last summer, Sussex police said.
Det Supt Peter Kennett, who led the hunt for Sarah's killer, said Mr Whiting will appear before magistrates at Chichester, West Sussex, tomorrow.
Mr Whiting was arrested this morning in Kent and driven to Bognor police station in West Sussex for questioning.
Sarah, from Hersham, Surrey, disappeared near her grandparents' home in Kingston Gorse, near Littlehampton, on July 1st last year.
Her partially-buried body was found 16 days later in a field just off the A29 near Pulborough, about 15 miles north of where she was last seen. Police believe she was strangled or suffocated.
Sarah had been playing with her brothers Lee (13), Luke (11), and six-year-old sister Charlotte after a day on the beach.
PA