Paige Doherty killer to have his deli assets seized

John Leathem killed 15-year-old Paige Doherty (file photo)

The delicatessen owner who murdered West Dunbartonshire schoolgirl Paige Doherty is to have his business struck off and its assets seized, a UK government agency has announced.

John Leathem killed the 15-year-old last March in what was described as a “savage and frenzied” knife attack at his company’s premises in Clydebank.

The 32-year-old, who stabbed the pupil 61 times before dumping her body in a wooded area, was originally ordered to serve at least 27 years in prison after admitting the murder. The minimum term was reduced to 23 years last month on appeal.

During the original trial, the High Court in Glasgow heard how Paige had gone into the deli, located in the town’s Fleming Avenue, to buy a sandwich before travelling to her Saturday job at a hairdressers.

Leathem, a married father-of-two, claimed he panicked after Paige threatened to report him for sexual assault when he did not give her a job. He then launched a “frenzied” knife attack, inflicting more than 140 injuries on the teenager. Now, Companies House has given Leathem two months notice that his deli business will be dissolved and its assets handed to the Crown.

In a notice for compulsory strike-off, Companies House said that under section 1000 (3) of the Companies Act 2006, Delicious Deli Clydebank Ltd “will be struck off the register and the company will be dissolved”.

It added: “Upon dissolution all property and rights vested in, or held in trust for, are deemed to be bona vacantia and will belong to the Crown.”

It comes as Paige’s mother, Pamela Munro, paid tribute to her daughter ahead of the first anniversary of her death.

Ms Munro said: “She never did anything that would disappoint you.

“It’s hard to say that because everybody’s got their bad points but it’s hard to find something bad about Paige.”

The family are in the process of setting up a charity in her honour, called Paige’s Promise, which will teach youngsters self-defence and offer grief counselling for those who have lost loved ones in traumatic circumstances.

Ms Munro said she hoped others would remember her daughter in the same way that Paige would want them to remember, adding: “She would be saying to everybody ‘don’t dwell on this, don’t be sitting sad and being upset, don’t put off your life.’”