Paige ‘last seen boarding bus’

Robert Ewing, 60, is believed to have been the last person to have seen Paige when she turned up at his flat in All Hallows Road, Bispham, in 2007.

In a police statement, Ewing told officers it was not the first time the teenager had been kicked out of the family home – ten days earlier she had claimed her dad would “batter” her if she returned.

On August 23 2007, Ewing claimed to have walked with the schoolgirl to a bus stop in Ashfield Road. She had finished her can of lager and boarded a bus to go to Connexions in Blackpool, he said.

Standing in the witness box at Preston Crown Court, Ewing was asked about covert recording of him talking to himself. He was heard saying: “Where the hell has that Paige Chivers got to? I’ll give her missing person when she turns up.”

Ewing’s defence, John Jones QC, asked him: “Did you still believe Paige Chivers might turn up?”

Ewing replied: “I still think she might do one day.”

Ewing denies murdering Paige and his best friend Gareth Dewhurst denies assisting an offender and a serious sex offence.

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