Sarah hunt man held

A man who was earlier quizzed in the hunt for the killer of eight-year-old Sarah Payne was in custody today on suspicion of stealing a car.

A man who was earlier quizzed in the hunt for the killer of eight-year-old Sarah Payne was in custody today on suspicion of stealing a car.

Sussex police said a 41-year-old man was seized in the early hours of Sunday, following a high-speed chase.

The man, of no fixed abode, appeared at Crawley magistrates' court on Monday morning.

He was charged with three offences - theft, assault and aggravated taking of a vehicle.

Magistrates remanded the man in custody for a week after police objected to bail.

The suspect was first arrested on suspicion of abduction after Sarah's disappearance.

He was initially living at his father's home but both men had to be moved after intimidating crowds gathered outside the property.

The man, said to be living in a tent at the time of his latest arrest, cannot be named for legal reasons.

A Sussex police spokesman said: "Following the theft of a Vauxhall Nova hatchback, Crawley police were involved in a high-speed pursuit in the Langley Green area of the town.

"A 41-year-old man of no fixed abode was arrested."

Detectives from Sussex are still hunting for whoever abducted and murdered Sarah, from Hersham, Surrey.

Sarah disappeared from a country lane near her grandparents' house in Kingston Gorse, near Littlehampton, Sussex, on the evening of Saturday, July 1.

Officers are still searching for her clothing after scraps of material found at a beauty spot near where the eight-year-old's body was discovered were ruled out as evidence.

The blue material was not thought to be from the Fred Perry-style sports dress which Sarah was wearing when she was last seen.

Police believe they have recovered Sarah's right shoe but they are still looking for the dress, the other black Velcro-fastening shoe and the blonde-haired girl's underwear.

Officers are also sifting through information given to them by 2,000 drivers who were stopped at road checks on the nearby A29 over the weekend.

They have taken the decision to scale down media appeals in order to concentrate on existing leads, but are considering some sort of feature on BBC TV's Crimewatch, due to be broadcast later this week.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said a second post-mortem examination on Sarah's body was due to be performed this week in a bid to ascertain the exact cause of death.

No obvious signs of violent injury were found on the body and strangulation or suffocation are thought to be two possible causes of death being investigated.