Prosecutor Timothy Langdale QC put the following alleged sequence of events shortly before and after the disappearance of Sarah Payne to the jury on the opening day of the trial.

June 26 2000: Roy Whiting buys his Fiat Ducato van from Dean Fuller.

June 30: Whiting buys two replacement doors for his van from John Kentish in Poole, Dorset.

July 1, 5.30pm: The Payne family arrives at Michael's parents' house in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex, for an overnight stay.

7pm: The family go for a walk.

7.15pm: The children leave the rest of the family and walk to a cornfield where they had in the past played on a rope swing. At the same time Sarah's parents, Michael and Sara and her grandfather, Terry, walk to a house on which Terry had been carrying out decorations.

7.30pm: Walker Adam Jamision hears the screams of children in the field of Kingston Lane. Police later say they were the screams of Sarah, her brothers and sister having fun and not of the eight-year-old being abducted, Mr Langdale tells the jury.

A short time later Sarah suffers a bang to the head possibly caused by Lee pushing her into the corn. When they get to the play area Sarah walks off in the opposite direction towards the lane.

Sarah makes her way out of the field. Lee notices her leaving and runs after her, desperately trying to stop her going through a hole in the hedge. Lee is half way across the field when he sees his sister slip through the hedge. It is the last time she was seen alive.

Mr Langdale says Lee jogs the short distance from the field back along Kingston Lane to his grandparents' house in Peak Lane. On his way Lee notices a long, white van.

Mr Langdale says Lee later recalls seeing the driver, who looked scruffy, smile or grin and wave at him as he drove off at speed, spinning the wheels.

7.40pm: Cynthia Read spots a white van turn into Orchard Road out of Kingston Lane at speed.

8pm: On their return to the grandparents house Sarah's parents are informed that the youngster has gone missing. The family searches every area she could be including the beach.

9.30pm: Police are called after the initial frantic searches yield no sign of Sarah.

10.15pm Jacqueline Hallam spots a white van driving north towards Billingshurst on the A29. She says the van looked like a long-wheel based Transit style vehicle, says Mr Langdale.

11pm: Bruce Pearce is driving north towards Billingshurst when he "sensed movement" on the right hand side of the road. He then spots a greyish van parked down a track. He later says the van was probably white, Mr Langdale tells the court.

11pm: Sean Matthews is driving north on the A29 when he sees a van emerge from the hedges on the east side of the road. He follows the van for a short time before it turns into New Road as if the driver knows where he was going.

July 2, 7.45pm: Detective Constable Chris Saunders and Detective Inspector Paul Williams visit Whiting's flat in St Augustine Road, Littlehampton. Nobody answers the door.

9.15pm: Detective Constable Richard Gardham calls at the flat again, this time ringing Whiting's phone number from his mobile, says Mr Langdale. Whiting replies and lets the police in. Detectives then leave the scene but park down the street where they can see Whiting's van. They observe him go to his van twice, on both occasions appearing to search for something.

11pm: Whiting leaves his flat, gets into his van and starts his engine. He is immediately stopped by the waiting police and accompanied into his flat where he is asked to produce the white T-shirt he claimed to have been wearing the night before. The doors at the back of the van had been changed to ones with windows while the wooden lining of the van had been removed, police were later to discover, says Mr Langdale.

11.45pm: Whiting is arrested on suspicion of abducting Sarah Payne when detectives fail to believe Whiting's account of his movements on the previous evening, Mr Langdale tells the jury. Whiting is taken to Chichester police station.

July 3: Deborah Bray spots a child's black shoe beside the B2139 in Coolham, West Sussex, but does not report it to police until after Sarah's naked body is discovered on July 17.

It is later identified by Sara Payne as identical to ones worn by Sarah.

Friday November 16