Spam Not Deleting

I have a Mac using 10.5.8 with Mail and Spamsieve 2.7.7 suddenly can’t delete the spam messages.
I now have a total of 16362 messages, which is constantly rising!!

I highlight the messages and select delete and nothing happens. I have gone into library-mail-mailboxes and spam folder and deleted the messages, but the still show in the spam box when I open Mail. All these messages are slowing down the computer.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of it all?

Thanks,
Vicki

Well, this is not related to SpamSieve, since the mail storage and deletion are handled by Mail. It might help to quit Mail and delete the file:

/Users/<username>/Library/Mail/Envelope Index

Then it will build a new mail database for you.

Thank you, worked perfectly.

Vicki