The brother of eight-year-old Sarah Payne may have seen the man who abducted her, Lewes Crown Court heard today.

Timothy Langdale QC, prosecuting, said the driver of a white van smiled and waved at 13-year-old Lee as he drove away.

He said there was "compelling evidence" that defendant Roy Whiting, 42, formerly of St Augustine Road, Littlehampton, kidnapped and killed Sarah.

Whiting denies kidnap and murder.

Mr Langdale said Sarah was playing with her brothers and sister on the evening of July 1 2000, in a field near her grandparents' house in Peak Lane, West Kingston, near Littlehampton.

He said she had banged her head during a game of hide and seek, and started crying.

She ran towards the road and was last seen by Lee, disappearing through a hole in the hedge.

Mr Langdale added: "That is the last anybody saw of her alive. I say anybody, that's apart from the man who abducted her and killed her."

He said Lee had seen a white van while he was still in the field and said it was travelling down Kingston Lane towards Peak Lane, where the Payne grandparents lived.

Lee ran after Sarah, trying to find her, and saw the van pull out of Peak Lane and drive back towards him, its wheels spinning because of its speed, the jury was told.

Mr Langdale said: "As he passed Lee the driver grinned or smiled at him and gave a wave of his hand.

"It is the Crown's case that the driver of that van was this defendant, Roy Whiting.

"It is the Crown's case that Sarah was already in that van having been picked up, snatched up from somewhere."

Mr Langdale said whoever snatched Sarah may have had knowledge of the area. He seemed to know that he could not escape along Peak Lane, a no through road, and had to turn around.

Mr Langdale said the abductor could have been "out on the prowl" in the area and that spotting Sarah was "an opportunistic event".

He said Sarah's body was found by farm labourer Luke Coleman on July 17 in a field by the A29 near Pulborough.

Her body had been buried in a shallow hole but animals had partially pulled her out.

He added: "There is scientific evidence to say that her body had been buried there soon after her abduction. It's the prosecution's case that Sarah must have been killed quite soon after her abduction and buried, no doubt that very night, in that field."

The case continues.