The mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne was today being honoured as one of Britain's bravest women.

Sara Payne, disabled athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson and Paddington rail crash survivor Pam Warren were among the eight women named as Britain's bravest by Best magazine.

Mrs Payne, 31, from Hersham, Surrey, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was murdered after she vanished during a family holiday with her grandparents in Kingston Gorse, near Ferring, last July, said: "I don't think I'm brave.

"People do things like run into burning buildings to rescue people, but I'm just carrying on.

"It's the family that have kept me going and we pick each other up. It's the kids who've been brave, not me."

The other women named were: Julie McCready, 21, from Edinburgh; Pauline Blight, 51, from Ashwater, Devon; Linda Robinson, 45, from Cannock, Staffs; Mary Smelczerczyk, 38, from Hull; and Nighat Rashid, 42, from Thornton Heath, Surrey.