Two men have been jailed for life after being convicted of the murder of three drug dealers on a remote farm in Essex.

Michael Steele and Jack Whomes were each given three life sentences after a jury of eight women and four men returned unanimous verdicts.

Earlier, both Steele, 55, and Whomes, 36, shook their heads as the verdict was delivered at the end of a four-and-a-half-month trial.

The murder of the three men, on a farm track at Rettendon near Chelmsford in 1995, was described in court as the cold and merciless result of a long-running feud between drug dealers.

The victims, Patrick Tate, 37, Craig Rolfe, 26, and Anthony Tucker, 38, had met their killers in prison. They were lured to their deaths thinking they were going to a cocaine deal.

As the three men were waiting in their Range Rover to complete the deal, eight shots were fired rapidly - and at close range - into their heads.

During the trial, the court heard that one of the victims had threatened to kill Mr Steele because he believed that he had not been properly compensated for sub-standard cannabis.

But Steele, who had described himself as an "Angel of Death", and Whomes were said to have decided to eliminate the 'threat' once and for all.

Their getaway driver, Darren Nicholls, a self-confessed drug dealer, had given evidence for the prosecution.

Mr Nicholls said he heard Whomes laughing as he recalled how his partner's gun had fallen apart during the shootings and he added in his evidence that Steele had described Whomes as carrying out the murders without emotion.

Speaking during the trial, Andrew Munday QC, prosecuting, said: "Dealing in drugs is not an honourable trade.

"It is often the province of the double-cross, the sting and the double-dealing. They are all stock-in-trade for those who deal in drugs.

"They are beyond the law - as a result of which the remedies they take are sometimes themselves lawless."

The trial cost an estimated £1.5m and jurors received round-the-clock police protection.

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