Paige Doherty's mother posts graphic reminder of murdered teenager's injuries as killer appeals sentence
Warning: This article contains a graphic description of Paige Doherty’s injuries
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Your support makes all the difference.The mother of a teenager who was stabbed more than 60 times in a “frenzied attack” has shared details of the injuries following the killer’s appeal for a reduced sentence.
Fifteen-year-old Paige Doherty was murdered by shop owner John Leathem in March last year after she apparently stopped at his deli in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, to buy a breakfast roll.
Paige was stabbed 61 times in the head, face and neck in the attack in the back of his shop. The married father-of-two was sentenced to life in prison, serving a minimum of 27 years.
Following the launch of his appeal to have the sentence reduced, a ‘Justice for Paige’ Facebook page was set up to campaign against the proceedings.
As Paige’s family wait for the court’s decision on Leathem’s appeal, her mother Pamela Monroe has shared graphic details of the injuries she sustained and described how her children feel scared to go anywhere in case “something like what happened to their sister happens to them”.
“As parents […] we live everyday wondering if the person we are talking to is going to take another one of our children. We will live our lives in fear and worry because of his actions,” she wrote.
At the time of his conviction, Leathem claimed in his defence that he had taken Paige into the back office of his shop to discuss a job application, and told her he would need to discuss it with her mother due to her age. He claimed to have panicked after Paige allegedly threatened to report him for sexual assault. His attack left her with more than 140 injuries across her head, face, neck and arms.
Following the brutal attack, Leathem was caught on CCTV carrying Paige’s body in a bin bag out of his shop and into the boot of his car. He is understood to have hidden her body in a shed hear his home before driving to a wooded area and dumping it two days after the attack. Paige’s body was discovered by a member of the public.
Judge Lady Rae said at Leathem’s sentencing that the murderer had carried out a “savage and frenzied attack. She said she found it “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”.
Leathem’s lawyers called his minimum term of 27 years “excessive” in his appeal hearing in December.
Ms Munroe wrote in her post: “If I could beg for his sentence to be made higher I would but again we have no rights to appeal only the accused has that right.
“Every right has remained with him while our daughter was just a statistic in the system.
“Please say a wee prayer and hope that when we do hear back that it is the right result. For now I don’t hold much hope.”
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