Age: 20
Sex: male
Date: 14 Jun 1985
Place: Lautrecs Disco, Dagenham
Paul Reidy was stabbed as he left Lautrecs Disco in Dagenham in June 1985.
A man was convicted for his murder on 11 September 1986 but his conviction was later quashed.
Paul Reidy had been an amateur boxer and roofer.
He was said to have become caught up in a running street fight in which youths fought with lumps of wood, a cosh and ammonia.
The man that was convicted of his murder was said to have pulled up in his car and to have joined in the brawl.
Paul Reidy was stabbed in the chest three times.
The man that was convicted of his murder was said to have fled after the brawl but to have given himself up to the police three days later, but to have not told them anything or given any evidence.
At the trial, the man's defence said that the people that had seen the man with a knife had then become privately convinced that he had killed Paul Reidy.
At the trial, supporters of both the victim and the accused were barred by the judge from sitting in the public gallery when the jury returned their verdict. . The ban followed an attack on Paul Reidy's father just before the trial for which the elder brother and father of the man on trial had been brought before the judge over the incident, resulting in the elder brother being kept in custody for the rest of the day and the father let off with a warning.
Following the man's appeal he was sentenced for affray.