Body of murdered Paige, 15, ‘held to ransom’ says mum
FOR more than two years, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Paige Doherty has campaigned to have the ‘inhumane’ law allowing second post-mortems axed.
Unable to bury her daughter for a month after she was killed – due to the automatic right of defence lawyers to demand a second examination of a body – she and her family were left traumatised by the delay.
Now, with a Bill aimed at changing this likely to receive cross-party support at Holyrood this year, she has spoken for the first time about the ‘appalling’ treatment of victims and their families by the Scottish justice system.
Paige was murdered in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, in March 2016 – weeks before her 16th birthday.
Last night, her mother Pamela Munro, 35, said: ‘I felt like my daughter’s body was held to ransom. When I asked when I could bury her, I was told I no longer had the rights even over my murdered child. Her body was the property of the Crown and the defence was entitled to that second post-mortem.
‘There was no need for Paige’s body to be held for a month. They could have moved more quickly, but there was nothing we could do.’
The proposed new law is similar to those in countries such as Germany, where a second post-mortem is approved by a judge only if there is a good reason – and it must be carried out promptly.
A grief-stricken Mrs Munro started working with her MSP, Nationalist Gil Paterson, to try to change the law before Paige’s body was finally released.
Research and discussion with colleagues and senior lawyers have led to his Post-mortem Bill.
It is backed by Justice Secretary Michael Matheson and is expected to attract cross-party support.
Mr Paterson said: ‘What happened to Pamela and her family on top of the murder was appalling – I felt it was important to make this slight alteration in our law to protect other families in future. I hope it gets the support it needs to become law.’
Paige’s killer, John Leathem, 33, was sentenced to 27 years in prison, reduced on appeal to 23 years in February of last year.
He attacked the schoolgirl at his deli in what a judge called a ‘savage and frenzied attack’ then dumped her body in bushes.
Mrs Munro said: ‘You think your child being murdered is the worst thing in the world, and it is, but then you learn the procedure you have to go through can make it worse.
‘The justice system doesn’t think about victims and their families.’