The step-father of Paige Doherty has shared his devastation after killer John Leathem had his sentence reduced by four years.
John Leathem admitted killing the 15-year-old when she stopped for a breakfast roll at his Delicious Deli in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, on March 19 last year.
He was given a mandatory life sentence at the High Court in Glasgow in October and ordered to spend at least 27 years behind bars, but launched an appeal against the minimum jail term later that month.
Senior judges at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh have now quashed the original punishment and imposed a 23-year sentence.
Step-father Andy Munro, alongside Paige's mother Pamela Munro spearheaded a campaign for justice in a bid to stop Leathem's appeal.
A petition opposing a cut in his jail term had been signed by around 11,000 people.
He posted: "There is no justice" in a heartbroken statement to his Facebook page.
Hundreds of sympathisers have offered their thoughts to the family of Paige Doherty following the verdict.
The verdicr, delivered by Lord Turnbull, reiterated that Leathem had committed a "most appalling murder" but said other circumstances needed to be given "proper weight".
At a hearing in December, Leathem's lawyer Iain Duguid QC said the punishment part of his client's sentence was higher than other child murder cases and ''represents a significant increase in the tariff'' for such offences.
He compared the sentence handed down in other cases such as the 23 years given to Alexander Pacteau for the murder of Irish student Karen Buckley.
Ruling on Leathem's appeal, the judges said: "The appellant was a family man of previous good character who had not offended before and who had expressed remorse.
"The murder was not premeditated.
"The extent of his efforts to defeat the ends of justice can be measured against certain of the conduct which took place in some of the other cases referred to above.
"When these circumstances are all taken account of, we think it can be said that the length of the punishment part selected in this case was inconsistent with current sentencing practice and was excessive."
The opinion ended: "For the reasons which we have set out above, we shall quash the punishment part imposed in this case and substitute therefor a period of 23 years."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel