Patrick McCluskey

Pat McCluskey was beaten to death with bricks, strangled with wire and stabbed in the stomach on St Patrick’s Day in 1985.

He was found dumped on a building site on waste ground off Dart Street, Small Heath in Birmingham on Sunday 17 March 1985. His blood-spattered body was found by a passer-by under a mattress and two children that had been playing in the area said that they had seen the mattress  at lunchtime the day before.

It was noted that a 7-year-old boy that had been playing on the site on the Saturday had told his mother that he had seen a leg on the building site, but she hadn't believed him.

He had barb wire around his neck and serious stomach wounds caused by a broken bottle.

It was noted that because it had taken at least 24 hours before Pat McCluskey was found that the police had lost a vital 24 hours before they had a chance to start their investigation.

The building site had been about 100 yards away from where he had been staying with his daughter in Small Heath at the time. He had been married twice and had previously been living with his second wife in Kings Norton but had moved in with his daughter a week earlier following a row with her over what TV channel to watch. His wife described their relationship as 'strange'.

His inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing, however, his cause of death was unknown.

The Coroner said:

The police appealed for information, and in particular, about the identity of a young Irishman known as Phil that had been seen with him before his death. He was described as:

• Early 20s.
• 6ft tall.
• Slim build.
• Blond.

The police also appealed for information about a tall ginger-haired stranger that had been seen by nine witnesses playing pool with Pat McCluskey at the Shakespeare Pub in Stratford Road on the Friday, 15 March 1985. Regulars at the pub said they had never seen the man in the pub before and hadn't seen him since. They were said to have been seen chatting together for about two hours before leaving together at closing time. A police drawing of the man was released.

The police said they were open minded regarding how many people had been involved.

A police detective said:

It was later reported that a wall of silence had surrounded his death and the police said that they thought there were people out there that knew a lot, but were not talking.

Pat McCluskey was described as a small time police informer who had inside knowledge of local petty criminals and had lived on the fringes of the underworld.

A detective said:

It was noted that robbery was ruled out as he had had no money on him at the time.

Although there were rumours that he had been killed because he had been a grass and that his murder was a gangland hit, the police said that they believed that his murder was more domestic in nature and that he might have seen the wrong man's wife.

Pat McCluskey was born in Dublin and had had eight children and had been a bricklayer. He had worked for Pargas Construction of Kings Heath for 17 years.

He was also known as a womaniser and it was thought that he might have been killed by a jealous husband.

Another motive considered was that he had been killed for his insurance money after it was heard that he had joked with a pub landlord once that he had a life insurance claim worth £20,000 and was worth more dead than alive.