Not prepared to go quietly

Sean Bean's character (left) bears a strong resemblance to Pat Tate

by BBC News Online's Chris Summers

Solicitor Chris Bowen resigned when told by his employers they could not spare him the time to follow up the Rettendon murders case after his clients, Michael Steele and Jack Whomes, were convicted.

That was how convinced he was that Steele, 56, and his friend Jack Whomes, 37, had been wrongly convicted of murdering Pat Tate, Tony Tucker, and Craig Rolfe.

The pair, now known as the Rettendon Two, were jailed for life in January 1998 for the murders in Workhouse Lane in December 1995.

Mr Bowen, who has the complete support of the Whomes and Steele families, says the pair were convicted solely on the word of "supergrass" Darren Nicholls.

Warning to jury

He says there was no forensic evidence or corroboration from other witnesses.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Hidden, stressed the importance of Nicholls and told the jury: "I hardly need stress the importance of Nicholls's evidence. So much hinges on what he said."

Tucker got his hands on a batch of ecstasy tablets called "apples"

Mr Bowen has been refused access to a police disciplinary tribunal at Essex Police HQ, which he claims could shed important new light on Nicholls' relationship with his police handlers.

Nicholls told the trial he had been Steele and Whomes' getaway driver, but he said he had been unaware they were plotting murder when he agreed to drive them.

One of the police's first suspects for the Rettendon murders, Nicholls was also facing serious charges in connection with a consignment of cannabis.

He was offered a deal by police - become a witness against Steele and Whomes and win immunity from prosecution, a new identity and a place on a witness protection scheme.

Nicholls agreed. He underwent many hours of interviews and made several statements to police, frequently changing details and admitting to inconsistencies.

He told police Whomes had crushed the getaway car. He had not - he had passed it on to a man who was using it for stock car racing - and when police found it and forensically tested it, they found absolutely nothing to link it with the shootings.

Confession rejected

Mr Bowen said Nicholls, who has now been given a new identity and has gone into hiding, has since written a book, with journalist Tony Thompson, called Bloggs 19 in which he changes his story once again.

Steele and Whomes have always denied murder, but in January 1996 another man told police he had been the getaway driver for the real killers.

Craig Rolfe did not even have time to take his hands off the wheel

He said they were members of a gang from Canning Town, east London, one of whom, Jesse Gale, died in a car crash in May 1998.

Mr Bowen, who is in the process of making an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission seeking leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, said he was looking at several other areas which could aid the Rettendon Two's case.

These include:

The evidence of the pathologist who told a court she had never been asked to ascertain a time of death and did not think it was important.

New evidence by mobile phone expert, David Bristowe, which appears to undermine the police's claim that Whomes was in Workhouse Lane when he called Nicholls at 1900 BST.

Questions about the death of Billericay car dealer John Marshall, a friend of Tate's who was believed to be looking after £120,000 worth of drug money for him, who was found shot dead in his Range Rover six months later.

A fellow inmate at the special "supergrass" unit who has come forward with fresh evidence about Nicholls.

Mr Bowen told BBC News Online: "The prosecution case is crumbling before our eyes."

Bernard O'Mahoney, a former business partner and friend of Tucker, has written a book on his life in the Basildon underworld, confusingly also called Essex Boys.

O'Mahoney, who has several criminal convictions, says the biggest similarities between the film and the real story were in the complex web of treachery weaved between the characters, most of it fuelled by an insatiable greed which the profitability of the drugs trade creates.

Banner protest

Last week a man was charged with endangering public safety after a banner was unfurled above the M25 in an attempt to highlight the case.

An Essex Police spokeswoman said: "The whole case was fully investigated and the men were sentenced. If anyone has any hard evidence they should contact us.

Tony Tucker had made numerous enemies

"But so far nothing has come our way which changes our views on the conviction."

She said the disciplinary hearing was "not related directly" to the Rettendon case, although the officer had worked on the inquiry.

She said it was an internal police hearing and was not open to members of the public.

She said while there was evidence Marshall was an "associate" of Tate, the inquiry had not been linked with the Rettendon murders.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are aware of recent speculation on the work of the pathologist and the matter is currently being addressed by the Home Office policy advisory board for forensic pathologists. She is not suspended."