Emotional appeal to catch Tom Kirwan’s murderer

The distraught mother and fiancée of murdered Shropshire factory worker Tom Kirwan today made an impassioned appeal for fresh information to help catch his killer.

It has been more than two weeks since the 23-year-old Bridgnorth Aluminium worker was stabbed to death outside the Uberra nightclub in Wolverhampton.

Four teenagers were arrested in connection with the murder last week but have since been released on bail.

Mr Kirwan’s mother Emer today pleaded for anyone who knows the identity of his killer to come forward, saying they needed to look deeply and closely at themselves and do the right thing.

She said: “However hard it may be, somebody has got to say something.

“There were 600 people there that night and there’s someone out there that’s protecting this person.

“They’ve ruined our lives forever. My heart is completely broken.

“We appreciate that people have come forward so far and we give them heartfelt thanks, but there are still more people who know.”

Fiancée Jade Elwell said their lives had been ripped apart by Tom’s murder.

The couple, from Wolverhampton, had planned to marry in the next two years but Miss Elwell said she could not bear to think about her future anymore.

“The fact that someone is still out there knowing what’s happened, while we suffer so much, is what’s making us so angry,” the 21-year-old said.

“No matter how small they think the information might be, we beg them to come forward.”

The pair said they had been deeply touched by the many tributes to Mr Kirwan, many by people who had never met him

Miss Elwell added: “I often go and look at the tributes [by Uberra] as I find it quite comforting. You can see how popular he was and the type of person he was.”

Mr Kirwan, a metal processing engineer, was knifed in the chest outside the club on Wednesfield Road on July 8 after trouble had spilled out on to the street.

Detectives have since trawled through hours of CCTV footage, spoken to dozens of people who were at the club and handed out 4,000 leaflets to city centre revellers to try to jog people’s memories of the night.

Anyone with information can call police on 101.