Paul Savage

Paul Savage, a postman, was attacked with a wooden baton whilst delivering letters in Clayton Road on 4 February 2003 at around 7.15am.

He was attacked as he was delivering letters to a house known as Coleshill on Clayton Road.

It had been snowing at the time.

Two men in hooded tops were seen near his postman's bike a couple of minutes later but Paul Savage wasn't seen. He was found soon after when the person living at the house went to their car and saw him lying in the snow. He was unconscious with a head injury.

He was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital where he later died at 10.55am.

It was said that he had been hit with an 18-inch club that had fractured his skull and smashed his jaw. The police later said that they thought that there might have been more than one murder weapon used. A wooden club, made from a banister rail was found nearby that had had Paul Savage's DNA on it. It was also found that the paint on the spindle matched that found on Paul Savage's hat.

Leaflets showing a variety of images of coloured batons were distributed in an effort to trace anyone that had seen someone with one in their possession around Mold.

The police said that there had been speculation that Paul Savage had had an altercation with some youths whilst on his postal rounds a few days earlier, but the police repeated that it was only speculation.

The police said that they had had reports of people loitering and people in hooded tops being seen in the area before the attack. They said that there were also reports of men running off down Clayton Road away from Coleshill and towards the junction with Queens Park. They said that there were further reports of similar men in the alley that ran between Beech Drive, Cedar Grove and Elm Drive.

The police said that they were also interested in any information about a white Sierra car that was seen in the area.

It was initially thought that the motive might have been robbery or an unprovoked attack. However, it was later reported that it was later found that Paul Savage had had a long criminal record spanning about ten years and that he had been jailed for 9 months in October 2001 for possessing drugs with intent to supply at Blackfriars Crown Court in London after he had been caught with more than £1m worth of cannabis.

It was found that after his release from prison he left London and moved with his wife and 4-year-old daughter to Gwernaffield near Mold where he started working for Royal Mail, initially as a casual employee but later as a full-time employee.

As such, the police said that they thought that he might have been murdered over a gangland grudge.

Five people were initially arrested but released without charge.

However, the investigation into his murder, codenamed Lion, uncovered a criminal network throughout the area which itself resulted in the arrests of a number of drug traffickers.

In 2005 the police said that they knew what the motive was but that they were not prepared to release any details.

In 2010 the police carried out a fresh search in some nearby fields and took away a number of items for forensic examination.