Paige murderer jailed for more than three decades

Robert Ewing, 60, was found guilty of murdering the 15-year-old in his Blackpool flat in August 2007.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted him, after the court was told he had developed an “inappropriate sexual interest” in Paige before he beat her to death.

Paige’s body has never been found.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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