Tom Kirwan - a bright future cruelly cut short by murderer

Wolverhampton murder victim Tom Kirwan's mother has spoken of the last time she saw him alive.

He had spent the afternoon with his mother, helping her start up a new Sunday league football team. But just hours later Tom lay dead – murdered after a nightclub brawl spiralled out of control.

His heartbroken mother Emer today remembered those final few hours, saying her beloved son was "all excited about the new team" as he registered players at Bushbury's ECC Sports and Social Club.

The pair later met up again in Wolverhampton city centre that evening.

"That was the last time I saw him," Emer recalls. "And he was happy. Really happy."

Tom had gone out that fateful night of July 8 to meet his brother Brooklyn and take him home.

Later that night he was stabbed to death outside the Uberra nightclub in Wednesfield Road.

Dozens of tributes have been left outside the former Canal Club and on social networking sites, which have proved a source of comfort for both Emer and Tom's fiancée Jade Elwell. They described to the Express & Star the unimaginable difficulty of how they have managed to cope with the past two weeks.

"I don't know how I've got through each day," Emer said. "The family have been here more or less 24 hours a day but I've got two other boys and they're going through it as well so you have to be strong for them.

"It's going to be hard each day to carry on. But we have to. Somehow."

Tom was a man with big plans, looking to the future. A metal processing engineer at Bridgnorth Aluminium – often working 12-hour days – he had started looking into joining the Territorial Army and had given himself a stringent fitness regime to prepare for any trials.

He and Jade, who lived in the house he owned in Oxley, planned to marry in the next two years and had booked a holiday to Aruba next month. They were also thinking about moving into a bigger house, with Jade having recently completed a teacher training course.

"We were ready for the future together," Jade said. "But I can't even think about my future now."

The pair, whose mothers are close friends, first got together on Jade's 16th birthday. Tom had waited two years to ask Jade out and she happily accepted an invitation to the cinema, falling for him straight away.

They would spend their time going out for meals, to the cinema and on holidays abroad, travelling to Turkey, Portugal and Greece.

"He treated me like a princess," she said, "He'd always surprise me with presents and just pick me up whenever I was down.

"We loved travelling together and Tom took me to Milan two years ago to propose.

"It was a complete surprise but he'd been planning it and had even asked my dad for permission – that's the type of person he was. He'd always make time for everybody else – he'd do anything for anyone."

Emer described Tom, a former pupil at St Patrick's Primary School in Wednesfield and St Edmund's Catholic School on Compton Road West, as "my rock" when husband Mack died of cancer four years ago.

The close-knit family, who are in the pub trade, with Tom growing up in The Golden Lion in Fallings Park, had been "ripped apart" by their deaths, Emer said. Tom had assumed his father's mantle and taken care of younger brothers Brooklyn, aged 19 and Chad, 15.

Emer added: "He was my rock when Mack passed away. Losing him was devastating for the family and Tom was so worried about me.

"He's looked after me for four years. He'd say, mum you've got to look forward to my childen, Brooklyn's children, Chad's children."

With his killer still at large and the family still unable to bury Tom because of a second post-mortem examination, emotions are still extremely raw for the devastated pair who simply want justice for their son and fiancé.

"The person that's done this has ruined our lives forever," Emer said. "We've gone through every emotion possible but they're still out there and someone's protecting them.

"Twenty-three years of age, everything going for him, everything to look forward to.

"And now he's gone."

• Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 and ask for Operation Prose or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

• See also - Family plea: Help us find Tom's killer