Man to be sentenced for murder of Paige Chivers

A man who murdered a 15-year-old schoolgirl whose body has still not been found will be sentenced today.
GUILTY: Robert Ewing has been sentenced to 33 years in prisonGUILTY: Robert Ewing has been sentenced to 33 years in prison
GUILTY: Robert Ewing has been sentenced to 33 years in prison

Robert Ewing, 60, killed Paige Chivers at his flat in Blackpool, Lancashire, in August 2007.

Ewing had developed an “inappropriate sexual interest” in Paige before he beat her to death.

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Bloodstains belonging to the “vulnerable” teenager were later found by a police forensics team in the inner hallway of his flat in All Hallows Road, Bispham.

Paige ChiversPaige Chivers
Paige Chivers

The murder was said to have taken place between August 23 and August 27 2007.

On August 23, Paige had packed two carrier bags with clothes and left her home in Longford Avenue, Bispham, after a family row.

Later the same day she was spotted at a nearby bus stop with the defendant.

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An extensive proof of life inquiry found no evidence Paige was alive and she never claimed a ‘’significant’’ inheritance sum left to her after her mother’s death.

Less than a fortnight before Paige went missing, Ewing contacted police to tell them that a “problem child’’ had turned up on his doorstep having been thrown out by her father.

Prosecutors said he was effectively “testing the water” and that there had been “very little reaction” by officials.

Ewing was also found guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court of perverting the course of justice by intimidating witnesses and providing false information to the police.

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Co-defendant Gareth Dewhurst, 46, of Duncan Avenue, Blackpool, was convicted of perverting the course of justice and assisting Ewing to dispose of Paige’s body.

Both men, who denied all the charges, will be sentenced from 11am.

Police say they remain committed to finding Paige’s body.