THE daughter of a bouncer brutally murdered on Clacton seafront is hoping the anniversary of his death will lead to a breakthrough in the case.

Gary Chick was attacked by masked thugs 15 years ago today as he walked near the Venetian Bridge with his girlfriend.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The killing has become Clacton’s longest unsolved murder.

Daughter Roxanne was just 11 at the time of the tragedy. She still remembers the moment she heard her father was dead.

Roxanne, now 26, said: “My nan was living with us.

“We were in bed and I remember dad’s girlfriend came upstairs.

“She said we had to come down because our nan needed to speak to us.

“Nan was crying. She said our dad had been killed. I can’t remember what I said, but the whole thing was horrible.”

Roxanne’s older sister, Jenny, had been celebrating her birthday at a friend’s house.

Roxanne and her nan had to get a taxi so they could break the devastating news to her.

She said: “We had to go past where the murder happened.

“The road was blocked off and I can just remember sitting in the car bawling my eyes out.

“I could see the line of police officers standing around and that’s when I knew that’s where Dad was killed.

“I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

Mr Chick, 40, had been working at Fibbers nightclub on the night he died.

He was walking home to Kingsman Drive after having a few drinks with other doormen at the old Waverley Hotel when he was attacked by three masked men at 2.40am.

The bouncer was hit on the head with what was believed to have been a hammer.

The murder weapon was never found.

A man was charged with murder but acquitted in 1999.

The last time Roxanne saw her father was in the mortuary at Colchester General Hospital.

She said: “He was just laid there with a bandage wrapped around his head.”

Mr Chick doted on Roxanne and her sisters, Jenny and Laura.

He was known as the “Gentle Giant”.

Roxanne, who continues to live in Clacton, in Leas Road, added: “You couldn’t have asked for a better dad.

“He did everything for us girls and had two jobs so he could support the family.

“He loved his motorbikes, but his kids always came first before anything else – he was just brilliant.”

Roxanne now has three children of her own – Ann-Marie, Conrad and Charli.

She married husband Kevin Marlborough this year.

“Me and the kids and Kevin are going to go down to the seafront to lay some flowers.

“The seafront isn’t the same for me any more because that's where my dad died.

“But the kids like going to the beach so I go down for them.

“They all know their grandad is in heaven.

“Ann-Marie knows he was murdered and the others know something nasty happened to take him away.

“But I keep all the newspaper cuttings in a folder, so I can sit down with them when they are older and explain it all.”

She added: “This time of year is when it hits me the worst.

“It’s hard, but I’ve got my children and my own family to support and I’ve got to be strong for them.”

Roxanne says her nan died of a broken heart seven years after the murder.

Older sister Jenny still writes to their dad every day in her diary.

Roxanne added: “We all grieve in our own way.

“I just pray to God they will catch who murdered my dad one day.”

l If you have any information about Gary Chick’s murder, call police on 101.