Sarah Payne’s killer opened up in a series of letters to a prison pen pal.

Roy Whiting wrote dozens of letters to Bernard O’Mahoney, who was posing as a woman called Emma in a bid to coax the child killer to confess.

In his letters, Whiting could not even bring himself to write the name of his eight-year-old victim, who he abducted from near her grandparents’ home in Kingston Gorse in 2001, only writing her initials.

He complained: “After I was arrested and interviewed about SP and my white van they bailed me to my father’s house.

“I couldn’t even get clean clothing from my flat so I had to stay at my dad’s house. The media got the address and I had to leave. I had nowhere to go.”

Whiting, 52, cannot be released before at least 2041 but told his pen pal that he planned to change his name when he came out of prison.

He said: “I will be changing my name when I am released but I have not decided what to yet. Any suggestions? My first name will be Gary or Ray. When I am released and start again I will be a new man. So maybe Gary Newman, ha ha ha.

“At the moment I am like a ship without a rudder. I’m going around in circles and have no idea where I’m going to drop anchor and start my life again or what I am going to do for a job when I get out.”

He also told his pen pal about his tastes in music, saying his favourite bands were Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen and his all time favourite song was, ‘I don’t want to miss a thing’ by Aerosmith.

Whiting was sentenced in 2001 to serve a minimum of 50 years in prison by then Home Secretary David Blunkett in a landmark ruling, but a High Court judge changed this to a minimum of 40 years in June 2010.

The convicted paedophile also tried to make light of sex offences he committed against a nine-year-old girl prior to killing Sarah.

He lied about his earlier conviction, claiming he had met the girl, who he believed to be 18, in a pub.

He said: “I found out later that she was only 15 but that’s in my past.

“She did consent but changed the story after we were found out – plus pressure from other people, parents etc.”

Whiting was actually imprisoned for four years for abducting and sexually assaulting the girl after dragging her into his car and threatening her with a knife.

Mr O’Mahoney’s book, Flowers in God’s Garden, is published by True Crime Publishing and is available at www.truecrimepublishing.com.

Author Bernard O'Mahoney wrote to dozens of killer, including the Yorkshire Ripper, the London Nail Bomber and the great aunt of Victoria Climbie.

North-East child killer Richard Blenkey sent him a letter claiming to be responsible for the Babes in the Woods murders.

Sussex Police studied the letters and diagrams that Blenkey, who was convicted of murdering seven-year-old Paul Pearson in Teesside, had sent to O'Mahoney, but he was never arrested or charged in connection with the deaths of Nicola Fellows or Karen Hadaway.

The letter read: "Three murders I have done and nobody has caught me yet. that makes me very smart don't you think?

"The two Brighton killings was a piece of cake and Paul's murder was nice."