Paige Doherty was born 18th April 2000 in Scotland. Paige had stayed at one of her friends' house on the night of 18th March 2016. On the 19th, at around 8:21am, she went to John Leathem's delicatessen before she would have gone to her hairdressing job in Kirkintilloch, 12 miles away; the search for her began after she failed to arrive.
Her body was found on the roadside near Glasgow's Great Western Road 2 days after she disappeared. Paige had been stabbed in the head and neck and suffered more than 250 wounds. The last sighting of her was on CCTV at a deli shop in Clydebank, owned by John Leathem, who later admitted to murdering Paige Doherty. Paige's mother, Pamela Munro, set up charity Paige's Promise in her daughter's name to teach children self defence, as well as support families whose children have been victims to murder.
John Leathem claimed that Paige threatened to tell people that he had "touched her" inappropriately, if he refused to give her a job. The main evidence used in the trial was CCTV footage of John closing the Deli, running to the shop next door, and then returning to the deli remaining closed for about an hour. The footage then shows him putting a full bin bag in his trunk. The bag was confirmed to contain the body of Paige and when the owner of the shop he visited was questioned, it was confirmed that John had purchased gloves, bleach, and the bin bag.
On 12th October 2016, 7 months after Paige's murder, John was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow, where Judge Lady Rae set a minimum time of 27 years in jail before becoming eligible to apply for parole. However in February 2017, following an appeal by John, the minimum term was reduced to 23 years.