Sarah Payne's youngest brother pleaded with police: "When are you going to bring back my sister?"

Luke Payne, 11, was interviewed by detectives the day after eight-year-old Sarah went missing from a cornfield near Littlehampton on July 1 last year.

He appeared calm throughout the session, telling police how Sarah could be annoying and was a cry-baby.

He did not know that, according to the prosecution case, his little sister was by then almost certainly dead.

A video of the 70-minute interview was played to jurors at Lewes Crown Court where Roy Whiting, 42, is standing trial charged with Sarah's kidnap and murder. He denies the charges.

Luke told Detective Constable Sue Gunnis how he had set off with brother Lee, 13, sisters Sarah, eight, and Charlotte, five, and their parents, Sara, 32, and Michael, 33, from their home in Hersham, Surrey, to visit their grandparents in Kingston Gorse, near Littlehampton.

He told how, after dinner, they had gone to the beach with his grandfather, Les, and their little black dog, Fifa.

The children and the adults split up, with Sara warning the children to stick together, the court heard.

In the tape, which was often muffled and sometimes inaudible, Luke said: "We spent about ten minutes on the beach playing in rock pools and then we went to the cornfield. We got through a gap in the hedge and were running about.

"We were crawling through the grass, pretending we were about be attacked by velociraptors, like in Jurassic Park.

"Sarah was being annoying. Lee pushed her and she fell over and hurt her nose. She came running over to me and had tears running down her face.

"She's a bit of a cry-baby but she normally only cries for about five minutes.

"We all started walking towards the rope swing at the back of the field.

"Lee had a bit of a swing and I was playing on some old logs. Fifa slipped out of my hand and ran off into the next field so we ran after her.

"Charlotte came running up to me and said Sarah was going home. Lee grabbed the dog and I ran after Sarah and caught up with her. She's normally quite a dawdler but she'd got quite far."

Luke told the detective how he managed to find Sarah, who was hiding in the grass and he surprised her by jumping out on her. He said: "She grinned at me because I scared her a bit."

Luke said he told Sarah to wait while he returned to look after Charlotte, who had stung her knee on nettles.

But Sarah did not wait. Her eldest brother, Lee, 13, chased after her through the wheat, only to see her vanish through another gap in the hedge.

It was the last time she was seen alive by her family.

Luke said: "Lee ran as fast as he could but the long grass was slowing him down. He ran to Nan but she hadn't seen Sarah. We got the car and went to the village but couldn't find her. That's when they rang the policeman."

He told the court how Lee had told him later in the evening about the white van which he saw drive past seconds after Sarah had left the field. The prosecution alleges Whiting was the driver of the van and, in a split second seeing Sarah alone in the lane, snatched her before driving away, killing her and dumping her body.

He said: "Lee didn't tell me until later on about the man who smiled and waved. Then I thought 'wait a minute, that van had just driven past Sarah'. We were saying something about a pervert going around in a white van picking up children. I started to worry a bit."

After giving his interview, Luke was asked by Ms Gunnis: "Is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

His voice lowered to a whisper and he said: "When do you reckon we're going to get Sarah back?"

The detective replied: "I can't answer that but we will do everything we can. You've done very well. You've done all you can."

Detectives never found Sarah alive. Her naked body was found 16 days later in a shallow grave off the A29 near Pulborough, 21 miles from the field where the children had been playing.

Mechanic Whiting, formerly of St Augustine Road, Littlehampton, sat in the dock following the transcript of the interview, rarely looking up.

At the other side of the public benches Sarah's mother, Sara, sat, flanked by her husband and father-in-law. Sara's parents, Brian and Elizabeth Williams, also appeared in court for the first time.

The trial continues.

Monday November 20