Paul Logan

Paul Logan was beaten to death on 23 December 1993 as he delivered a Chinese takeaway.

Paul Logan had worked as a delivery driver for the previous two years for the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant in Shotley Bridge and was called out to Blue House Farm on a false delivery where he was beaten to death.

He had two children and had been together with his partner for nearly ten years. They had lived in Blackhill, County Durham at the time.

It was noted that over the previous three months his car had been vandalised several times and it was suggested that someone might have had a grudge against him.

On the early evening on Thursday 23 December 1993 the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant received an order for a Chinese takeaway for Blue House Farm. It was later found to have been a hoax call to lure Paul Logan out to where he was murdered.

Around the same time, between 9.20pm and 9.30pm, a couple said that they had been walking down Benfieldside Road towards Snows Green Road when they saw a man making a phone call in a phone box with a Ford Fiesta XR2 parked up nearby. The phone box was about 600 yards from the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant. The girl said that she noticed the man in the phone box, noting that he was trying not to draw attention to himself, because he was not on the phone as they walked passed.

The man in the phone box was described as being white, about 6ft tall, about 30 years of age with a muscular build and wearing a black leather jacket and with a scruffy appearance and collar-length dark hair that was receding at the front. It was also noted that the driver of the Ford Fiesta XR2 was of a similar build, wearing a black leather jacket and with a scruffy appearance.

The woman at the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant said that when she received the call for the take out order for Blue House Farm she told the caller that she would get the driver to call back to get directions.

When Paul Logan came into the takeaway, the woman that took the order asked him about the address at Blue House Farm and then told him that she had told the customer that the driver would phone them back for directions.

Paul Logan called the number that was given, which was the number for the call box, whilst at about that same time, the girl that was passing with her boyfriend said that as they crossed the road after passing the phone box she noticed that the man was then on the phone. Paul Logan then confirmed that the address was just off the Newlands Road on the left with the customer.

After the food was made Paul Logan went out to deliver it in his cream Peugeot car, by which time it was nearly 10pm. Blue House Farm was about a five minutes’ drive away from the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant.

However, when Paul Logan got to Blue House Farm and knocked on the door, an old woman there told him that they had not ordered a Chinese takeaway.

The owners of Blue House Farm said that they then watched Paul Logan drive off.

It was noted that the owners of Blue House Farm had left the gate to their farm open that evening and it was thought that it was open when Paul Logan had arrived, but that when he left, it was shut.

Paul Logan didn't return to the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant and in the meantime the orders started piling up and they decided to stop taking new orders until Paul Logan returned.

About half an hour later, the people at Blue House Farm called the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant and asked why their driver had been at their gate for about half an hour.

The owner of the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant then called Paul Logan's girlfriend and asked whether Paul Logan had been round, but she said that he hadn't.

Paul Logan's girlfriend then called Paul Logan's parents and they then went to the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant to find him and they all then drove off to Blue House Farm. Meanwhile, the occupants at Blue House Farm had called the police.

When Paul Logan's parents and the owner of the Golden Flower Chinese restaurant arrived at the gate at Blue House Farm, they found Paul Logan's car there with the doors open, empty and with the lights still on.

Paul Logan's body was found at about 2.15am about 50 yards from his car. He had been beaten about the head with a blunt instrument and had died from severe head injuries.

It was noted that money that he had had on him at the time had not been taken.

The murder weapon was never found.

The police said that they had not found a motive but said that they did find that a lot of people held a grudge against Paul Logan.

During their investigation, the police said that as well as Paul Logan's car, which was seen in the entrance to Blue House Farm, witnesses had seen a red or orange Astra car in a track about 150 yards away from the entrance to Blue House Farm.

The police said that they thought that after the killers had made the false takeaway order, they had waited nearby and that after Paul Logan had entered Blue House Farm they had shut the gate behind him and that when he had returned to the gate, he had been forced to get out of his car to open it and that he was then attacked.