Essex Boys gangland triple killer Michael Steele could be free from jail by Christmas | UK | News


Essex Boys convicted triple killer Michael Steele could be released before Christmas, it has emerged.

Steele, 81, was given life with a minimum term of 15 years for the notorious gangland murders in 1998 with Jack Whomes, 62.

The minimum term expired in 2013 but he has failed to get a release or move to open prison conditions ever since and remains a category A prisoner – despite his age.

His current parole hearing began in May 2023, but has been dogged by a number of delays.

A Parole Board spokesman confirmed it will resume on November 12.

The spokesman said: “An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Michael Steele and is scheduled to take place in November 2024. I can now confirm the date is 12th November.”

He would not comment on the delays, but added: “Adjournments are often because the panel requires further information to complete its risk assessment.”

Whomes and Steele were convicted of the murders of drug dealers Pat Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26, in December 1995.

The three were shot dead in a Range Rover on an isolated snowy track in Rettendon, near Basildon.

It was 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 a national outcry.

The notorious gangland killings spawned a series of gangster flicks such as the 2000 film Essex Boys, which starred Sean Bean.

Both Whomes, released in 2021, and Steele have always insisted they are innocent, but a series of appeals and applications to the Criminal Case Review Commission have failed.

In March, the Sunday Express revealed the CCRC has begun a fresh probe after a team of former murder detectives who spent four years on the case claimed there were disclosure failings and it was mired in corruption.

Dean Kingham, Steele’s solicitor, of Reece Thomas Watson, said: “Mr Steele is 81, soon to be 82. It is assessed he is not a risk unless he reverts to a criminal lifestyle.

“He meets the board’s statutory release test in that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that he remains confined.

“The Ministry of Justice is seeking to justify him remaining in closed conditions to access personality work for ‘personality traits’ which we are arguing has no relevance to his current or future risk.”

The Parole Board spokesperson added: “Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

“A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

“Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead-up to an oral hearing.

“Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.

“The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.

“Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”

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