FIFTEEN years after his death the family of murdered Loughton publican Alan Brooks have renewed demands that his killers be brought to justice.

Mr Brooks was landlord of the Gunmakers Arms pub in Chester Road, and the Clydesdale pub, Westall Road, where he was stabbed by an armed gang on July 16, 1991. He was 53.

A former international boxer, Mr Brooks ran the pubs with his wife, Barbara. The couple had a son Adam, then 11. Mr Brooks also had two other children, Alan and Joanne, from a previous relationship.

Inspired by his father, Adam, who recently opened Nu Bar in Loughton, told the Guardian: "I want to get across the type of man he was and that the claim that he was involved in anything couldn't be further from the truth.

"A picture was painted of my dad because of how he was killed that he was involved in crime but it happened because he took a stand against people who took liberties in his pub. He was a respected ex-boxer from the East End who loved his family and had many friends."

It is thought the attack was in retaliation for an incident the week before Mr Brooks' murder when he barred a group of men from the Gunmakers Arms pub.

Mrs Brooks, who has never re-married, said of her husband: "Alan wanted to run a bar and was successful at it, we always ran good pubs and never had any trouble. All he did was stand up for his morals."

Despite several witnesses to the attack the Metropolitan Police never solved the case and no-one ever stood trial for Mr Brooks' murder.

The family last heard from police in about 2000 when a suspect was arrested for an unrelated crime, but it came to nothing.

But the family, along with ex-Met detective Peter Bleksley, now a writer and broadcaster, who is examining the case, have not given up.

Mr Bleksley said: "I'm hoping to rattle the cages of the people who did this. I will be leafleting the estates and people can get hold of me if they want to speak about it.

"There's still hope, new brains, a new take, and a review of the case may turn up new evidence, but we won't know until it's done. This is a solvable case and it would be good if we can get a review team to look at it objectively."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman would not discuss a review of the case but said: "If a serious crime remains unsolved the pain does not go away for the family and we would ask anyone with information to come forward."

Mrs Brooks added: "We want closure and for someone to pay for what they've done and feel the hurt we feel they broke our hearts.

"We can't change this, Alan is not here in body, but he is in spirit and I want to know why these people took our lives away."