Robert Ewing is believed to have beaten Paige Chivers to death in his flat after he developed an 'inappropriate sexual interest' in her, a court heard

A middle aged neo-Nazi who groomed a 15-year-old for sex then killed her when she threatened to go to the police has been jailed for life.

Robert Ewing is believed to have beaten Paige Chivers to death in his flat after he developed an 'inappropriate sexual interest' in her, the court heard.

The vulnerable teenager was last seen with Ewing after she went missing from her Blackpool home following a row with her father eight years ago. Her body has never been found.

Sentencing him to life with a minimum of 33 years in jail, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker told Ewing he had carried out a 'carefully planned and executed murder' to avoid the prospect of returning to jail.

Mr Justice Baker said Paige, who lost her mother just months before her disappearance, was seen as an 'easy target' by Ewing, whose flat in Bispham, Blackpool, became 'something of a magnet' for young girls as he allowed them to smoke, drink alcohol and take drugs.

The judge said Ewing had then turned on his 15-year-old victim after she threatened to report him.

'There came a point when Paige Chivers realised that she could manipulate the situation to her advantage and threatened to report you to the authorities ... the last thing you wanted to occur was for the public authorities to be acquainted with what you had been doing,' he added.

The 60-year-old, who denied murder, was later heard talking about Paige's disappearance and the police investigation in covert recordings, saying: 'I'm a neo Nazi but not a weirdo.'

In one chilling clip, he is heard to say: 'You don't mess with me. Quick hammer over the f****** head, then they will be sorry.' Officers later discovered blood spots belonging to Paige at his home.

Mr Baker said Ewing - who knew him through a family friend - was left 'in turmoil' following the death of her mother Sheila who died of a heart attack in February in 2007 - just six months before her daughter's. Paige's late father's addiction to alcohol worsened to the extent that he largely abandoned her.

On August 23, 2007, tensions boiled over and she packed up her belongings and left the family home after an argument with her father Frank, 46, regarding the spending of some family cash.

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

A national search was launched to find the teenager yet, despite appeals from police, her family and TV chat show host Jeremy Kyle plus the offer of a £12,000 reward, no trace of her has ever been found.

Paige - who knew Ewing through a family friend - was seen as an 'easy target' after the death of her mother (pictured as a child, right)

More than 2,800 people spoken to and over 1,200 statements taken and the hunt extended across Britain.

She was due to inherit thousands of pounds on what would have been her 18th birthday from a trust fund set up following the death of her mother but was never able to claim the cash.

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 claimed he was effectively 'testing the water' and there had been 'very little reaction' by officials.

He told a call handler he had sent the youngster home and was asking officers for 'advice' but he rang off when he was advised to ring social services.

On the day she was last seen alive Paige was seen with Ewing at a bus stop.. Police spoke to him the following September but he claimed he had last seen her a month earlier when she turned up at his address carrying bags and was stood in his hallway for about 10 minutes.

A neighbour claimed at the time Paige went missing, Ewing told her he was helping a young girl who was being abused at home to 'disappear and never be found again.'

The judge, who labelled the defendant 'intelligent and devious', also wanted to create an 'innocent cover story'.

Police investigated a site on Faraday Way in Thornton Cleveleys during the search for Paige Chivers' body as part of a nationwide hunt for the teen

Teams of officers and sniffer dogs tried to find her but the 15-year-old's body has never been discovered

Another witness claimed Dewhurst had said 'Bob' had killed Paige before he was made to use his car to help dispose of her body. Dewhurst also claimed he was was made to have sex with the teenager. During a covert recordings taken from his van, he said Paige had been given a beating adding: 'She deserved what she got.'

Ewing, who took part in a British National Party protest about the disappearance of another missing girl, and was also a member of the English Defence League, was eventually arrested after detectives bugged his flat.

He was then overhead telling a friend: 'A quick hammer around the head' whilst another of him talking to himself: 'The mystery deepens Paige Chivers. Hide and seek and you win this one. I tell you. Give up. Hand yourself in wherever you are. I might even be able to forgive you. If anyone comes and starts on me I don't mess around.'

After searching his home, found a hoard of cuttings and photographs about Paige's case and a dossier about the unrelated murder of Paige's father Frank in 2014.

They also discovered pictures of her and another girl with the word 'sex' scrawled across their stomachs and an arrow pointing down.

Ewing was convicted of murder after a ten week trial and jailed for a minimum 33 years. Gareth Dewhurst, 45, (pictured) was found guilty of perverting justice and assisting an offender and was jailed for eight years

A file labelled 'Paige Chivers' contained a number of handwritten notes Ewing had made in a bid to tell his story about Paige to newspapers while a separate file, 'The life and death of Frank Chivers, Blackpool's hardest man' contained articles relating to Paige's father who died after a fight at his flat in 2014.

At Preston Crown Court, Ewing denied murder and perverting justice, telling the court he thought Paige may have moved to Ireland and be living with gypsies under a different name. He claimed the bloodspots came from Paige when she accidentally cut her elbow during a visit to his flat. He said: 'I still think she might turn up one day.'

But he was convicted of murder after a ten week trial and jailed for a minimum 33 years. He was also found guilty at Preston Crown of perverting the course of justice.

Painter and decorator Gareth Dewhurst, 45, also of Blackpool and a fellow BNP activist, was found guilty of perverting justice and assisting an offender and was jailed for eight years .

The judge said Dewhurst had been a 'willing, if not enthusiastic, participant'.

Arrogant Ewing, who smiled for his police mugshot photograph, sat with his arms folded for most of the hearing and calmly walked from the dock after sentencing.

Ewing has previously served a 12-month jail sentence in 1995 for gross indecency with a 13-year-old girl, whom he also indecently assaulted.

Det Supt Andy Webster, who led the investigation into Paige's murder, said: 'Ewing had carefully groomed Paige before murdering her at his flat, When she was reported missing he failed to assist the police and then repeatedly lied to them. He has repeatedly sought to implicate other vulnerable people in her murder.'

'It is nearly 8 years since Paige disappeared. She has never been found. To this end, we remain committed to finding Paige and I would appeal for Ewing and Dewhurst to now tell us where she is so that she can be laid to rest with dignity.'

Joanne Cunliffe of the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘At the time of her disappearance Paige had very little stability in her life and Robert Ewing took advantage of this.

‘Soon after Paige went missing he killed her in his flat. Gareth Dewhurst knew about the murder and helped Robert Ewing dispose of her body.

‘Neither of the defendants has ever shown any remorse and over the years since Paige went missing they have done everything they could to cover their tracks. Because Paige’s body has never been found this has been a very complex case, firstly to prove that Paige was dead, not just missing, and then to prove that Robert Ewing murdered her.’

The teenager was described as 'a fun-loving kid, bright and funny' in a victim impact statement from sister Madison Gordon, which was read out in court.

She said: 'Paige was only a kid when her mum (Sheila) passed away in 2007. I would say it broke us. I think it hit Paige hard because of her age.

'Every birthday is a reminder that Paige is no longer with us to open her cards and to celebrate with her.'

She thought Paige would have gone on to study hair and beauty and would have been 'a brilliant mum'.