A sandwich shop owner has been sentenced to at least 27 years for the “frenzied” knife murder of a teenage customer.
John Leathem, 32, stabbed Paige Doherty more than 60 times when she stopped at his shop in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, for a roll on the way to her hairdressing job on March 19.
The married father-of-two was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow to life with a minimum term of 27 years on Thursday after pleading guilty to her murder at an earlier hearing.
At the previous hearing, Judge Lady Rae told him: “This was a savage, frenzied attack on a child.”
First offender Leathem attacked the 15-year-old in the back office of the Delicious Deli in Fleming Avenue shortly after 8.20am, apparently after a short exchange about a job.
A post-mortem examination found Paige suffered 61 stab wounds, mainly to her head and neck, and 85 cuts thought to have been sustained as she tried to fight off her attacker.
Footage also showed him leaving his shop to buy anti-bacterial wipes, bin bags and bleach.
He is understood to have stored Paige’s body in a shed at his nearby home over the weekend before driving to a wooded area off the A82 and dumping her body on the morning of Monday March 21, where she was discovered by a member of the public.
Leathem’s lawyer Ian Duguid QC said her murder was a “spontaneous, gross overreaction”.
He said Leathem claimed to have taken Paige into the back office to discuss a job application, and told her he would have to speak to her mother due to her age and that there were other candidates for the position as a shop assistant.
Leathem claims Paige responded: “I thought I was getting a job,” before adding: “I’ll just say you touched me,” the court heard.
Paige was described by her grandmother as a “kind and selfless person and all-round good girl”.
Her family said they will never get over what happened to the teenager.
The court heard how her mother Pamela Munro hears her daughter’s screams in her nightmares and stepfather Andrew said they could not get out of their heads “the terror that she must have experienced”.
Speaking outside court, Paige’s mother Pamela said: “Today we see a monster put behind bars for the unthinkable, brutal crime he committed against ourdaughter Paige.
“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, which then makes the world that bit more safe for our kids to grow up in.”
She went on: “All we can do as a family is take each day at a time. There is a huge piece missing in our family that can never be replaced.
“I am thankful for the 15 years we had with Paige, from the kind and generous wee soul she was, to the mature young woman she grew into.
“She may not be with us anymore but she will live on through her brothers and sister and all the memories that we share.”
She thanked the police investigation team and officials who worked on the case, and the public for the support they have given the family over the last seven months.
