Farmer Paul Langmead is making a claim to Sussex Police for damage caused to crops in a field he owns at Ferring.

There's nothing all that unusual in compensation claims, except in this case the damage was caused by officers searching the field where eight-year-old Sarah Payne was last seen alive.

Police can hardly be blamed for searching every inch of this land for clues to help them catch her killer.

No doubt their systematic search caused a great deal of damage. But with Sarah's body only being discovered this week and one of the biggest murder hunts in Sussex still on, this is emphatically not the time to be seeking compensation.

Mr Langmead is a successful farmer who has presumably profited from his ventures. He hardly needs the cash in his hands now.

After Sarah's killer has been caught would have been a far better moment for him to have made a polite inquiry about compensation.

As things are, he is in danger of being depicted as a man who puts his own profit above the cause of catching the murderer or murderers of Sarah.

Fair's fare Taxis are a form of public transport used in towns such as Brighton and Hove by the poor who cannot afford cars, as well as the rich who want to get to places quickly.

Yet the way in which fares are rising, they will soon be accessible only to the wealthy. Although inflation is low, the cabbies keep coming back for more money.

There is some justice in their claim for a seven per cent rise because of fuel rises, but their claims of poverty may be scoffed at by some of their passengers.

The rise should be granted by the borough council, but a careful eye should be kept on future claims.

There could also be a case for the Government to grant fuel subsidies to cabbies so they can keep fares down.

Truly amaizeing You've heard of crop circles. Even the aliens supposed to have created them could not have conceived the crop maze which has just been unveiled in Sussex.

Designer Adrian Fisher has set up a puzzle amid a maize field at Turner's Hill, near Crawley.

It's one of the biggest mazes in the world and will take the average person more than an hour to reach the centre. That's a truly amaizeing maze.