Alan Smith

Alan Smith was shot by five masked men at the Duchess of Kent public house in Liverpool Road, Islington on Saturday 30 November 1985.

It was thought that he might have been shot over an unpaid underworld debt of several thousand pounds.

When the men came in, one of them beckoned to him as he was standing at the bar after which the gang shot him with a sawn-off shot gun and a pistol.

Alan Smith was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead where he died soon after from head wounds.

Two other people that had been in the bar at the time were also hit and taken to hospital where they were treated for shotgun wounds.

The police said that they were considering the theory that he had 'welshed' on a loan and become a marked man.

A man that had been playing cards in the pub said:

It was also reported that Alan Smith had been shot dead outside the pub after he chased three men that had wounded him as a 'frightener'. His inquest stated that four men had burst into the pub and shot him in the back.

An estate agent that had been drinking in the pub said:

Another witness said that he saw Alan Smith stagger out of the pub and shout at the gunmen as they ran off:

However, he said that one of the men then turned round and shot Alan Smith with a shotgun at close range, hitting him on the side of the head and leaving him collapsed on the ground.

Alan Smith was noted for having driven a green Rolls-Royce car. He had been married and had lived in a terraced suburban house in Greenford, West London.

A detective described Alan Smith as being like Arthur Daley from the television show Minder, saying that Alan Smith had:

However, his wife denied that he had been a criminal. She said that his death had been a tragic mistake and that they had shot the wrong man. She launched a bitter attack on the national press and their reports stating that Alan Smith had been a money lender that had dabbled in drugs and prostitution. She said:

She also denied that he had been a minder, stating:

She described him as a generous man who loved helping children, adding that he was a keen sportsman and had built his own gym in the back garden. She said that he had been involved in car dealing, but didn't really know what he did, but said that he sometimes went away for days.

At his inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court in July 1986 a verdict of unlawful killing was recorded.