A FORMER criminal has said that the notorious Essex Boy murders marked the end of an era in gangland London.
Tony Tucker, 38, Pat Tate , 36, and Craig Rolfe, died after they were lured to a country lane in rural Essex. The three men, who were sat inside a Range Rover, were shot in the head.
In 1998, two men, Michael Steele and Jack Whomes, were jailed for life.
The triple murder inspired films the 2000 film Essex Boys, starring Sean Bean, and The Rise of the Footsoldier franchise.
An investigation by former Met detective David McKelvey, has allegedly uncovered new evidence on the case.
Mr McKelvey, now of firm TM Eye, believes the new information casts doubt on the convictions. His findings help form a new three-part series on Sky Documentaries
Former gangland figure Dave Courtney, who contributes to the documentary, has said that the case marked a watershed in London crime.
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Mr Courtney said to The Sun: "The world of the Essex Boys still exists but it has changed.
"There was a time when London crime was dominated by Londoners. But that is no longer the case."
Mr Courtney now said that the hierarchy of crime in London was dominated by individuals from Eastern Europe.
Mr Courtney, who claims to have spent time in Belmarsh prison when he was a young man, said that notorious crimes such as the Brinks Matt robbery belonged to an era that is now gone forever.
Mr Courtney, from south London, said that the so called Essex Boy murders had changed the way in which crime groups operated in London.
He said: "That incident brought too much heat on certain people.
"Things like that tend to be avoided now.
"People tend to just go missing now."
Mr Courtney explained that when people went missing it led to much less interest from the media.
He said that he remembered the incident well, but was not shocked when it happened.
Mr Courtney explained that the three victims were involved in a certain lifestyle which brought with it huge risks.
He said: "It's part of that life. But when you are in that life you cannot worry or be fearful. "
Mr Courtney said that he believed that the convictions of Steele and Whomes may be "unsafe."
He added that he believed the three victims were murdered in relation to a fall-out in the drug business.
The three victims had controlled the supply of ecstasy in the Basildon nightclub Raquels where tragic Leah Betts had taken the drug.
The teen was left in a coma after taking an ecstasy pill at her 18th birthday party and died 15 days later in hospital. Her death led to a national outcry about drugs in nightclubs.
Five months after the slaying ex-BT engineer Darren Nicholls was caught with a drug haul. Nicholls agreed to tell police about who was responsible for the Rettendon murders.
After Whomes and Steele were jailed for life Nicholls was given a new identity as a protected witness.
But now investigators probing the case on TV say Essex Police dismissed the taped evidence which tells a very different story.
The lead initially comes from a police informant known as 'Witness A' who claims he drove a hitman to the scene of the crime, as revealed by The Sun.
The tapes - heard for the first time in public - outline a sinister plot to take out violent cocaine addict Craig Rolfe, 26, his bodybuilder ‘enforcer’ Pat Tate, 36, and Tucker, a close pal of champion boxer Nigel Benn.
In a hotel room meeting, the anonymous figure said: “There was an armed robbery. The robbery is the key to it all really.
"It was a van full of cash, £495,000 got stolen.
“The whole thing was a balls up, if you like, because shortly after some of the robbers went splashing the money. It wasn’t long before everyone knew what happened.
“We got arrested and while we were in jail some of the money was given to Tony Tucker. It was given to him for safe-keeping.
“When we got out we asked for the money back but it wasn’t forthcoming and excuses were made, it’s tied up, this sort of thing, he couldn’t get it.
“By then he was drugged up, steroid upped, running around doing all sorts of business and in the end we knew it (the money) just wasn't coming back.
“He thought he was bigger than anyone. He thought there was nothing anyone could do. But he was wrong.
“A meeting was held and the problem solved.”
The fixer goes on to admit he paid the money to have them shot, adding: “I wasn’t bothered about the money, the money was irrelevant. It was the principal. Tucker was the target, the other two were collateral damage.”
Investigator and former Det Supt Dave McKelvey told The Sun: “I strongly believe there has been a miscarriage of justice.
“In the years that have passed, Whomes missed seeing his young children grow up while Steele is an old man who has become almost institutionalised.
“Times have moved on so much from when they were first jailed that when I mention social media to Steele he has no idea what I’m talking about.”
Essex Police stand by the convictions.
A spokesperson for the force said: “There has been an exhaustive police investigation into the murders of Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe in Rettendon on 6 December 1995, which resulted in the conviction of Michael Steele and Jack Whomes for their murder.
“Since those convictions this case has been back before the Court of appeal twice, in 1999 and 2006.
"These appeals have included focus upon the evidence of Witness A and the credibility of the key prosecution witness in the original
trial.
"Both appeals were rejected and in 2006 Lord Justice Kay commented that there was no “element of unsafety” relating to the original convictions of both defendants.
"This case has also been reviewed by the Criminal Cases
Review Commission who, as recently as January 2023, took the decision not to refer this case back to the Court of
Appeal.
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"We welcome this decision as this case has been exhaustively examined over the last 27 years and there remains no fresh evidence identified which would call the original verdicts into question.”
The Essex Murders starts at 9.25pm tonight on Sky Documentaries.
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