Rot in hell you scum!
Relatives of murdered teenager hurl abuse in court as man who knifed her 146 times gets 27 years
A SANDWICH shop owner must spend at least 27 years in jail for the savage murder of a teenage girl he knifed 146 times.
There were shouts of ‘scum’, ‘monster’ and ‘rot in hell’ from family and friends of Paige Doherty in the courtroom as John Leathem was led away to start his life sentence.
Jailing the 15- year- old’s killer at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Judge Lady Rae said it was a ‘savage and frenzied’ attack, and also described the killing as ‘ truly reprehensible and impossible to comprehend’.
Paige was repeatedly knifed just minutes after going into Leathem’s shop, Delicious Deli, in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, to buy breakfast on March 19. She had 43 wounds to her head in the frenzied attack and a fatal wound to her neck.
Two days later the schoolgirl’s body was found dumped in woods.
At an earlier hearing, married father-of-two Leathem – who had pleaded guilty to murder – told the court he ‘over-reacted’ when Paige had allegedly threatened to report him for a sexual offence if he did not give her a job.
Leathem’s twin brother was previously convicted of a sexual offence.
But Lady Rae said: ‘Even if true, your reaction was in no way mitigating of this appalling, wicked crime. It is impossible to comprehend how an apparently happily married man, with a young child, who is running a successful business, is capable of such an horrific level of violence.’
A post-mortem examination found Paige had 61 stab wounds, mainly to her head and neck, and 85 cuts as it is thought the 4ft 8in teenager tried to fight off her attacker.
Outside the court, Paige’s mother Pamela Munro described Leathem as a ‘monster’ who had committed an ‘unthinkable, brutal crime’. She added: ‘There is no sentence high enough to justify what has happened but we can now see there is one less evil man in this world.’
Paige was killed within ten minutes of entering Delicious Deli. The teenager – who had spent the night at a friend’s house – had gone there before her shift at a hairdressers in nearby Kirkintilloch.
CCTV footage played in court showed Paige making her way to the deli at 8.21am, dressed in jeans and white trainers. Prosecutor Iain McSporran qC told the court: ‘That was the last time she was seen alive by anyone other than Leathem.’
Neighbouring shop owners noticed his store’s shutters pulled down at 8.31am, which they said was ‘highly unusual’.
The same cameras recorded Leathem heading to a nearby store 90 minutes later to buy anti-bacterial wipes, bin bags and bleach in a bid to cover up his crime. It then showed Leathem as he carried her body wrapped in bin bags to his silver Ford Focus – with a white-socked foot protruding.
Leathem drove to his home in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, and hid her remains in his shed before changing his clothes and returning to serve customers in his shop until 3.15pm that day.
After she failed to turn up for work, Paige’s anguished family reported her missing.
Leathem dumped Paige’s body two days later but it was found within hours. Witness accounts and the CCTV evidence helped police close in quickly on the killer. Leathem was arrested the next day.
Defending, Ian Duguid qC said Leathem had no angermanagement issues and was a ‘quite unexceptional individual’. He added: ‘This is an individual who is acting so out of character. There is no explanation that can be found.’
Mrs Munro is to launch a charity in her daughter’s name to provide self-defence classes for children.
‘An appalling, wicked crime’