Police find 'Sarah's shoe and dress'

Replicas of Sarah's clothes were used to jog people's memories

Detectives hunting the killer of eight-year-old Sarah Payne believe they may have found her missing shoe and part of her dress.

The piece of material, which officers think is the blue Fred Perry-style dress Sarah was wearing when she was abducted, was found in a hedgerow about a mile from where her body was discovered.

They believe it and the shoe were thrown from a moving vehicle by her killer on 2 July.

Sarah went missing after leaving her grandparents' home in Kingston, West Sussex, on 1 July.

Officers believe Sarah was killed on 1 July

Her naked body was discovered in a country lane near Pulborough, West Sussex on 17 July, following one of the biggest man hunts the UK has ever seen.

Sarah's mother Sara Payne said the family was cautiously optimistic over the latest find, but said there had been previous "finds" which had turned out to have no connection with her daughter.

She said: "We are excited but we are trying not to get carried away."

The latest discovery was made after a woman phoned detectives to say she had driven over a child's dress and shoe lying in a lane.

She stopped because she thought she had run over an animal but carried on when she realised it was a dress and shoe.

At the time, Sarah was still missing and the woman did not make the link between the dress and the schoolgirl.

A search team rushed to the area at the Goose Green crossroads, south of Coolham, close to where Sarah's other shoe was found.

Fingertip search

They quickly found the black shoe with a Velcro fastener and fragments of blue material, which could hold vital DNA evidence.

But police say it will be two weeks before the items can be positively identified as Sarah's.

Detective Superintendent Peter Kennett, leading the hunt for Sarah's killer, said both items had been damaged by a hedge trimmer in the weeks after they were discarded.

He added that a fingertip search would continue in the area of the finds which he said were covered in mud and well camouflaged.

Officers believe Sarah was killed on the evening of her kidnapping and they think the killer was driving a white Ford Transit van which he used to transport the body.

They are still appealing for witnesses who saw the van or clothing in the road to come forward.