Petty row theory on Wolverhampton club murder

Wolverhampton police today said they are probing the possibility reveller Tom Kirwan was murdered over a "petty" argument inside a nightclub – as it emerged he had suffered multiple stab wounds.

The 23-year-old Wolves fan was knifed in the chest following a night out with friends at the Uberra nightclub in Wolverhampton.

Today, Detective Inspector Warren Hines, who is leading the manhunt for Mr Kirwan's killer, revealed officers are following up "several" significant lines of inquiry.

They spoke to about 25 of about 600 revellers who were at the club at the time.

One angle being looked it is that vehicles carrying a number of people arrived at the scene and were involved in a fight in which Mr Kirwan was knifed.

Detectives have yet to locate the murder weapon that was used to stab the former St Edmund's School pupil "more than once" in the chest.

But they have revealed several items of interest were recovered by forensic experts during a two-day search of the area outside the venue, just off the Wednesfield Road.

Mr Kirwan's devastated mother, Emer, and 21-year-old fiancee, Jade Elwell, yesterday made a heartfelt plea for help in catching his killer, saying his death had torn their lives apart.

Miss Elwell and her partner had recently bought their own home in Oxley and were planning to get married next year.

Meanwhile Mr Kirwan was planning on joining the Territorial Army and was in the process of setting up a Sunday football team for the ECC Sports & Social Club, in Showell Road, Low Hill, which his father Mack used to run.

Det Insp Hines, who is leading a team of 30 experienced detectives who are probing the killing, said there was not yet an apparent motive for the murder.

By Crime Correspondent Shaun Jepson