THE sister of a man who was murdered fought back tears as she made a fresh appeal to find his killer.

Amanda Digby has been left devastated by the death of her brother Paul Mathieson.

Paul was found with serious injuries to his face on Sunday, January 14, following a night out in Renfrew, Renfrewshire.

He was taken to hospital but died a week later at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Known locally as Paul T, the former labourer was drinking in the popular Western Bar and the Kind Man's pub, both on Hairst Street, the previous evening.

Police said they have spoken to more than 200 people in relation to the incident so far and have taken more than 100 statements.

They believe that the assailant may have known Paul and could have spoken to him earlier that night.

Speaking at Paisley Police Station, Amanda said that the tragic incident has left a 12-year-old boy without his father.

She said: "Paul was an average young man but he was special to us. He was a brother, a nephew, an uncle and a grandson.

"But most importantly he was a father. His murder has left a 12-year-old boy without a dad.

"Paul left that night to go out for a few drinks however he never returned and we never saw him alive again.

"His death has left a massive gap in our lives. A gap that we will never fill. We are devastated of what has happened.

"No one ever thinks that this will happen to them. We thought that too and we're still desperately trying to make sense of it.

"We just want to ask people please if you have any information about the crime or the person responsible.

"Please speak to the police and pass on this information. Even if you think it is not relevant, please tell the police.

"Imagine you were in my position you would do everything you could to find out why your loved one has been taken away.

"It's in all of our interest to find the person responsible for my brother's death so please help us and contact the police."

Paul was well-known in the town centre of Renfrew and would often go out alone with the intention of meeting people as he was out.

Police have carried out door-to-door enquiries into the incident and reviewed CCTV footage from the night in question.

DCI Martin Fergus urged anyone with any possible information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to come forward and help their enquiries.

He said: "We want to put back in focus the murder of Paul Mathieson.

"Tomorrow it will be three weeks since Paul went out for a drink in Renfrew town centre and whilst making his way home was the victim of a brutal assault and subsequently murdered.

"I am appealing for anybody to reflect on whether they were in Renfrew three weeks ago, if they were in the town centre, if they were in any of the public houses and they know Paul Mathieson or Paul T as he is known locally to contact us and give us any information they may have that they may feel is beneficial to our enquiry.

"I would urge them no matter how small or insignificant they think that is to contact us because it might be that key piece of information we need to piece together what happened and what the circumstances leading to his death were that night.

"Paul is an individual who drank in Renfrew town centre regularly in the local public houses.

"That evening we believe he went out alone and joined the company of various individuals.

"A lot of those individuals were traced and spoken to but there are other people out there clearly -- it was a Saturday night in Renfrew -- there's a lot of people using the public houses, the restaurants.

"We're really keen to piece together Paul's movements, who he was with, did he have an argument with anybody that night, was there animosity between him and anyone in the public houses or in the takeaways that he attended.

"If anyone has any information relating to that please contact us as soon as they possibly can and let us be the judge of how important that information may be.

"Our early enquiries would indicate that potentially they knew one another however we can't rule out that it could have been an individual passing by.

"Our early investigations appear to show that they had a conversation prior to the assault taking place.

"He's a single parent and left a 12-year-old son and a devastated sister. It goes without saying that if we can bring the assailant to justice then we can bring some form of closure to Amanda who is clearly absolutely devastated by the loss of her brother."