Murdered schoolgirl Paige Doherty’s killer flashes an evil smile as he poses in creepy costume

A SNAP of grinning fiend John Leathem in a clown outfit was branded “sinister” and “chilling” by pals of his murdered victim Paige Doherty.

The image of him with his wife Katya, pouting beside him in a Mexican Day of the Dead outfit, emerged just days after he was given 27 years in jail for the schoolgirl’s murder.

Last night a family friend of Paige said: “This photograph shows him for the monster he really is.

“The real mask he wore was the one when he pretended to everyone he was a nice, normal family man.”

The photo was taken at a fancy dress party before Leathem, 32, butchered Paige at his Clydebank deli.

The dad-of-one knifed the 15-year-old more than 60 times after she came in to buy a sandwich on her way to her Saturday job at a hairdressers’.

He has been behind bars since his arrest which came days after Paige’s killing in March.

Leathem admitted the murder last month. A post mortem revealed the victim suffered 61 stab wounds and 85 other cuts as she tried to fight off the merciless brute.

His lawyer Ian Duguid QC told the High Court in Glasgow the killing was a “spontaneous, gross overreaction”.

He said there was no explanation for the killer’s actions and that “no-one could possibly” have predicted Leathem acting the way he did.

He added that Leathem had no history of anger — and that murdering Paige was “inexplicable” given his “pride and pleasure” in the community.

Mr Duguid said the fiend claimed to have taken Paige into the back office to discuss a job application, where he says he told her he would have to speak to her mother due to her age and that there were other candidates for the position as a shop assistant.