ESSEX BOYS MURDERS: Michael Steele Parole Board outcome delayed yet again.. now not until 'new year'

The outcome of Michael Steele's Parole Board hearing has been delayed yet again with an outcome not now expected until the new year.

Steele's reconvened hearing ended on November 12, meaning the result of his latest bid for freedom should have been published on November 26.

But, at a press briefing on the same day, the Parole Board said, although there was unlikely to be any further evidence heard, the panel had adjourned for further information on an undisclosed issue, with an outcome not expected for another two weeks or more.

The spokesman suggested this would be mid December.

When asked about this by Essex News and Investigations this week, the same spokesman said: "No we haven’t had the decision yet. Thanks."

We replied: "Isn't there a timescale for this? At the last briefing you suggested mid December. How can they go over the usual timescale with this please?"

He added: "I think mid December was when the panel were reviewing the info they’d directed and they are due to issue their decision in the new year. If I get any more concrete timescales I’ll let you know."

Outcomes should be published two weeks after the hearing concludes, but Steele's case has been adjourned multiple times.

The case had already been twice previously adjourned for further information after Steele made corruption allegations against Essex Police during earlier parole reviews.

It comes as the convictions of Steele, 81, (top right) and Jack Whomes, 62, (top left) for the murders of drug dealers Pat Tate, 37, (below left) Tony Tucker, 38, (below middle) who acted as security for boxer Nigel Benn, and Craig Rolfe, 26, (below right) are back before the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC).

It was after a team of former detectives submitted a dossier of evidence they claim casts doubt on the prosecutions, in what became known as the Essex Boys murders.  

Steele and Whomes were convicted in 1998 of the grisly murders, but have always protested their innocence.

The shocking gangland murders spawned a series of gangster flicks started by the 2000 film Essex Boys, which starred Sean Bean, and the Rise of the Footsoldier movies.

The discovery of the gangster's bodies (below) was also less than three weeks after the death of Leah Betts, 18, who took an ecstasy pill from a bad batch believed to have been supplied by the three victims, sparking national outrage.

An image of her laying in intensive care was released by her policeman father Paul Betts as a deterrent to other youngsters.

Last year the CCRC rejected an application from lawyers for Steele, who has spent around 28 years in a category A prison, and Whomes to refer their convictions to the Court of Appeal.

It was based on information in a leaked secret Met Police anti-corruption report that detailed how an organised crime boss was secretly recorded on police tape, on the day Leah died on November 16 1995, offering to arrange the murders of the suppliers of the drug that killed her.

The proposal was made to a retired detective suspected of having a corrupt relationship with the crime lord, who was secretly being bugged.

Details of the recording were never disclosed to the defence during the trial of Whomes and Steele, but after looking into the non-disclosure for six years, the CCRC concluded it was not enough to provoke a retrial.

Now, in a rare step, the CCRC has accepted submissions from a third party other than the defence, before agreeing to carry out a fresh review of the convictions.

A CCRC spokesperson said: "Applications have been received in relation to these individuals, and a review is currently underway.

“It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment while the applications are under review.”

Essex News and Investigations understands that the review follows the submission of a dossier of evidence from the team of former Met Police murder detectives who spent about three years reviewing the case before becoming convinced Steele and Whomes are innocent.

Whomes and Steele were convicted largely on the evidence of supergrass Darren Nicholls, 59, who claimed to be their getaway driver and is now under witness protection.

He agreed to turn Queen's (King's?) evidence after being arrested in May 1996 on suspicion of being involved in a cannabis importation.

Former Met Police DCI Dave McKelvey, who led the review for his private investigation firm TM Eye, was Nicholls' arresting officer and had been convinced of the pair's guilt before looking into the case.

TM Eye was not commissioned by the defence and was not instructed by them but was allowed access to case papers after expressing interest in the case.

Mr McKelvey now claims to have evidence that Nicholls was coached into what he said in the witness box and the case is mired in corruption, including details of a probe into a senior detective on the case being withheld as was his affair with one of the victim's girlfriends.

TM Eye's report also suggests several lines of enquiry into other possible killers were not pursued by Essex Police.

This includes the confession of Canning Town criminal Billy Jasper who gave a signed statement saying he was the getaway driver for a different named and lone killer after he was arrested on suspicion of an armed robbery.

His account was made to police in January 1996, about four months before Nicholls' version of events.

Steele and Whomes were given life with a minimum term of 23 years after being found guilty at the Old Bailey.

They have failed to overturn their convictions despite two previous applications to the Court of Appeal and others made to the CCRC.

Essex Police maintains the prosecution was sound.

Mr McKelvey posted on Linkedin: "It is an appalling miscarriage of justice. The truth is finally beginning to emerge and the matter is now back with the CCRC, with damning new evidence of wide-scale police corruption."

Whomes was released in early 2021 and has given no media interviews to protest his innocence, down to strict licence conditions according to supporters.

An Essex Police spokesperson said: "There has been an exhaustive police investigation into the murders of Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe in Rettendon on December 6, 1995, which resulted in the conviction of Michael Steele and Jack Whomes for their murder.

"Since then, this case has been back before the Court of Appeal twice, in 1999 and 2006.

"These appeals have included focus upon key evidential aspects of the case. 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 (CCRC) who, as recently as January 2023, took the decision not to refer this case back to the Court of Appeal.

"We will of course always work with the CCRC and keep any new information under review."