Dad-of-five shot dead for "drinking in the wrong pub"

Detectives say Lee Erdmann, 37, was gunned down at The Wellington in Salford after the killer took exception to him being in 'his' pub

A dad-of-five was shot dead for drinking in the wrong pub, detectives say.

Lee Erdmann, 37, was shot in the back as he walked to the toilets at The Wellington in Salford on September 10, 2011.

Lee and a man at the bar had spoken ‘amicably’ for up to 30 minutes.

Yet during the conversation the killer is believed to have secretly used his mobile phone to text an accomplice and told them to bring a handgun to the pub.

Then as Lee walked towards the pub toilet at about 2.50am on Saturday, September 10, 2011, he was shot in the back.

The .38 calibre bullet caused massive injuries, but as his victim lay dying the gunman shot him again in the chest before stamping on his face.

The pub’s CCTV would have captured the murder but the hard drive that contained the images was stolen. Within 24 hours police had a name for the killer, but although arrested the prime suspect has never been charged.

It is thought dad-of-five Lee, from Broughton, Salford, had never been in The Wellington before - and had only turned up because it was approaching what would have been the the birthday of his dead baby daughter and he heard it would be open late.

He was feeling low and just wanted to drink. The killer is thought to have taken exception to Lee being in 'his' pub.

Lee's mum Patricia has now begged any witnesses to the shooting to help cage ‘the coward’ who killed her son with a bullet in the back.

Police believe the murderer was a trigger-happy member of an Ordsall-based crime gang and is suspected of being linked to four other shootings.

A few weeks before Lee was shot a picture was taken of him and his brother for a book about the underworld, which after his murder was released by his family.

The book was published and the picture was used in an exhibition to publicise it - although never featuring in the actual book.

Det Supt Jon Chadwick, of Greater Manchester Police, told the Manchester Evening News: “Very early on, all the information given to police suggested that the same man was responsible for the shooting of Lee.

“A number of people have been arrested in connection with Lee’s murder, that prime suspect being one of them. But as it stands there has been insufficient evidence to charge anybody.”

Asked why Lee had been shot, he said: “I think it is as simple as Lee being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Lee isn’t from Ordsall, he ends up in an Ordsall pub, and at least one of the people in that pub took exception to that fact, but there’s no suggestion of any argument or planned attack on Lee.

“The information we have is that for quite some time, maybe half an hour, Lee was stood at the bar, with the man that shot him, chatting, in a perfectly amiable conversation.

“I think the weapon was brought to the pub after Lee’s arrival. We have investigated this for a long time, spoken to hundreds of people, and there is no evidence that anyone knew Lee was going to that pub.

“It was a split-second decision by Lee, who couldn’t sleep. He had been drinking in the Hyde Park Corner pub earlier in the day and he heard someone say there was a late night on at the Wellington, because there was a party.

“His family say he had probably never been there before.”

CCTV released today shows Lee drinking in the Hyde Park Corner, which was near his home.

Police say Lee knew the prime suspect, and they had met before.

Asked if there was any animosity between them, Mr Chadwick said: “Nothing I can pin down. They just happened to be from different parts of Salford.”

A reward of £50,000 is still being offered for information leading to the conviction of those responsible. Mr Chadwick added: “The feelings about this cold-blooded killing remain as raw as ever.

Praising, Lee’s mother, Patricia, for speaking out, he said: ”She knows, as do we, who did this and we also know that there are people within her own community who have the answers.

“We know the answers to Lee’s murder lie within Ordsall, but we also know that people who live here are proud of where they live.

"I also firmly believe that they want to put this incident behind them and they know a conviction for the killer of Lee Erdmann would help residents move on.”