The daddy's girl was act of 'quite unimaginable violence'

THE father of a young Canadian woman murdered by her lover in Scotland has remembered his daughter as a "typical daddy's girl".

- By Richard Elias

Claire Leveque's death was described as a "squalid death of quite unimaginable multifaceted violence", a judge told her killer, Aren Pearson.

He was convicted yesterday at the High Court in Edinburgh and now faces a life sentence of at least 25 years before being able to apply for parole.

Pearson, 41, had moved to his mother's home on Shetland along with his partner Ms Leveque, who was 24.

But in February last year, he stabbed her almost 30 times as she sat in a hot tub and to ensure she was dead also attempted to drown her.

The victim's father, along with several other family members, travelled 4,000 miles from their home in Alberta to attend every day of the trial.

Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Service, Ms Leveque's father, Clint Leveque, said: "Claire was so happy, positive and so friendly to everybody.

"My daughter texted me every night: 'I love you dad'. Every night of her life.

"There's nothing negative that anybody could possibly say about her. She was a typical daddy's girl."

Sentencing Pearson, trial judge Lord Arthurson highlighted the sheer brutality of the killer's crime.

Addressing the defendant, he told him: "You inflicted some 36 injuries or injury clusters to her head and neck.

Inflicted

"You inflicted at least 26 defined stab wounds."

The judge went on: "You embedded a knife within your victim's skull.

"You inflicted injuries in the area of her eyes, nose and ear. You sliced her right nostril."

Lord Arthurson continued: "You repeatedly inflicted blunt force trauma to her head, neck and body.