POLICE investigating the murder of businessman David O’Leary have issued a new appeal about incidents in a nightclub about three weeks before he was killed.

Officers are keen to trace a man believed to have been assaulted in DV8, in Marine Terrace, Margate, on Friday, February 8. The man was knocked out during an assault that was stopped when door staff intervened. When he came round the man declined police or ambulance assistance.

In a separate incident in the club later on the same evening another man is understood to have been assaulted, leaving him with a cut face. Again police and medical help were declined.

Mr O’Leary, 31, was shot dead after returning to his home at Valley Road in the quiet hamlet of Lydden near Margate in the early hours of Saturday, March 1, after a night out with his partner, Emma Terry, 26, with whom he had three children.

Det Ch Insp Maria Shepherd, who is leading the investigation, said: "We have been given information about the two assaults and we are keen to trace the men and talk to them. They may have vital information that could lead us to Mr O’Leary’s killer."

Officers last week appealed for anyone who may have seen the suspect fleeing from Mr O'Leary's home at around 2.45am on the morning he died. The suspect is described as 5ft 6ins to 5ft 8ins tall, wearing dark clothing and had either very dark hair or a black bobble hat.

Anyone with information should contact the Major Crime Incident Room on 01303 289600 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 11.