‘Essex Boys’ killer Michael Steele has fresh hope of being released with new parole hearing
NOTORIOUS 'Essex Boys' killer Michael Steele has fresh hope of being released with a new parole hearing.
Gangster Steele, 80 – jailed alongside Jack Whomes – has served more than 24 years for his part in the gruesome shotgun executions of three drug dealers.
Pat Tate, 36, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26, died in their Land Rover after being shot at close range in December 1995.
The grisly murders, which saw the trio blasted to death down a snowy farm track, inspired TV shows and films including Rise of the Footsoldier and Essex Boys.
Steele, who has always pleaded his innocence, has been told his latest parole hearing will take place in May.
He has served much of his sentence at Category A Wakefield Prison, west Yorks.
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A source said: "Michael is hoping that the Parole Board recognises his good behaviour in prison.
"He has shown he can be trusted and is not a danger – so has high hopes of finally being released.
"It would be a dream for him to be set free on licence.
“But he has always had a problem because he has refused to accept his guilt over the crime.
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"At the very least, if he is not released Steele wants this time to be transferred to an open jail."
Steele and Whomes were jailed in 1998 – with their convictions based on the testimony of supergrass Darren Nicholls, who claimed he was their getaway driver.
But East End criminal Billy Jasper told police he was the driver for a named assassin, who Tate called just before he was executed.
We also revealed how ex-gangster Steve ‘Nipper’ Ellis had claimed his Dad, Sid, carried out the killings after threats to their family.
The notorious killings were believed to be linked to a gangland feud.
We told in March 2021 how Whomes, 61, had been released on licence and returned to his mother’s Suffolk home.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is probing the convictions of Steele and Whomes, and could refer the case back to the Court of Appeal.
A Parole Board spokesperson said: "We can confirm the parole review of Michael Steele has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.
"An oral hearing is expected to take place in May 2023."