Essex Murders

The history of Essex has a wicked side - episodes of murder and villany run through it. In this compelling book, Donnelley has selected a dozen of the most revealing and disturbing cases.

ESSEX BOYS is the brand new edition of the shocking bestseller known as SO THIS IS ECSTASY?. It is the true story of the rise of one of the most violent and successful criminal gangs of the 90's whose reign of terror was finally terminated when the three leaders were brutally murdered in their Range Rover one winter's evening. On their way they had built the drug-dealing organisation that which supplied the pill that killed Leah Betts. They were responsible for a wave of intimidation, beatings and murder. Until, it seems, they took one step too far. Now there is compelling evidence that the men convicted of shooting the dead men are innocent. Which means the real murderers are still at large. Bernard O'Mahoney was a key member of what has been one of the most feared gangs of the decade. His inside account of their cold-blooded violence reveals that facts can be more terryfing than fiction.

on the 7th December 1995, three men were found dead as they sat in a Range Rover in Workhouse Lane, in the village of Rettendon, Essex. All the men had been killed at close range by a shotgun in what police described as a Gangland hit. After numerous arrests, there was still no sign of anyone being charged with the murders. Six months later, three people were in custody. One of them decided to talk, if he went on the Witness Protection programme. His words convicted two men, who are still in prison now, and have always protested their innocence. This book tries to piece together the events leading up to the murders, and if the right men were found guilty.

The county of Essex has rolling arable farmland, Epping Forest, sleepy villages, busy market towns and secluded backwaters - a wide variety of settings for murder. This selection of crimes uncovers not only famous cases, but also previously unpublished dramatic and tragic tales. The accounts included here come from a time when murder was a capital offence, carrying the ultimate penalty for the perpetrator, and when the difference between a verdict of innocence or guilt rested on a single piece of evidence, or the skill of the barrister in defence. Linda Stratmann has used original trial transcripts, material from local and national archives, contemporary accounts and the memoirs of pathologists, police and those in the legal profession in the course of her extensive research into crimes that have shocked the county. The killings explored date from as far back as the eighteenth century when the smuggler 'Colchester Jack' shot a confederate in the stomach in a row over stolen goods. They also include the case of a nineteenth-century female poisoner from Clavering and the brutal murder of a taxi driver in 1943 by two US servicemen at Birch. Supported by contemporary illustrations, Essex Murders reveals that behind the county's peaceful facade lies a murky criminal heritage.

In December 1995, three key members of the infamous Essex Boys firm were executed in their Range Rover after being lured to a deserted farm track by the promise of a lucrative drug deal. The police predicted that the void left as a result of the murders would cause a gangland war that would extend across London and much of the south-east. Essex Boys, The New Generation tells the chilling true story of the gang that destroyed everything that stood in their way to take control of their fallen predecessors' drug empire. With a reputation for ruthless violence, the gang expanded and protected their drug-dealing operation with a terrifying combination of bloodshed and intimidation. In February 2001, tensions within their circle boiled over and resulted in one member being shot dead. The police investigation was met with a wall of silence and for three years it seemed as if the case would remain unsolved. A leading member of the gang was eventually charged, but in an unexpected twist he became the prosecution's star witness. While a murder conviction was finally secured, the real truth surrounding the murder and the gang's psychotic crimes has never been revealed. Now, for the first time, former Essex Boys member Bernard O'Mahoney tells the full, extraordinary story of the rise and fall of the gang that took over the Essex underworld from him and his associates.

There have been many versions of who, why and how, regarding events which took place on the night of the 6th December 1995, in Rettendon, Essex. The death of three men is all that is certain. They were notorious, violent and professional criminals. And they died on a lonely and deserted farmers track. In the middle of nowhere, unarmed. These are the only elements of the event, which are universally accepted. Two men are serving life on scant evidence. The convicted proclaim their innocence, yet appeal has been denied, or manoeuvred from grasp. Conspiracy theories are rife. Several films and a few accounts have clawed their way into existence; to be portrayed as factual accounts of the event. Fact or fiction, perhaps no longer relevant in the unforgettable and alluring story about the untimely demise of the gentlemen in question. Pat Tate, Craig Rolfe and Tony Tucker. They are dead, somebody knows why and how. They aren't talking. The legend, perhaps best, now becomes a fable. Corporal William Handley served in the Falklands war. A member of the legendary 22 Special Air Service regiment. D Squadron, Mountain Troop. It is not a forever career. He can't do Civvy Street. He joins the Metropolitan Police. Perhaps they should have turned him away. Someone in Special Branch thinks otherwise. Bill's career is nothing out of the ordinary. No spectacular rise through the ranks. Just a steady bloke, eventually becoming a sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Department. Out of a uniform, but not really. Hollywood's in Romford, the first big door for Tony Tucker. Not long before the bright lights of Bas Vegas, a few miles along the Southend Arterial beckon. More sensibly referred to as Basildon by Essex Police. Tucker and Tate's organisation and muscle grows rapidly. Fuelled by steroids, ecstasy and fast easy money. Essex is partying, the Essex Boys are cashing in. The power struggles spill out onto the street. Eventually getting the attention of the serious organised crime team. Trouble is the Essex Boys are always one step ahead. They're learning fast, got inside help. No one has the bottle to break ranks, give evidence. They pair have earned the right to step back from front line work. Not going down for a large possession, when there are so many mules to do the work for them. Eventually, if you push hard enough. There's going to be collateral. Any firefight, it's a given. The wrong person will go down, an innocent. It had all gone too far. They didn't care. They were too busy looking at the next big bit of work. This time they were helping themselves to someone else's prize. They had their eye off the ball. It was just a quick look, then on to dinner.

The violent history of twelve of historic Essex County’s most infamous murderers, spanning more than 300 years. Includes illustrations! From South-End-on-Sea to Epping Forest, the English county of Essex offers many delights, and many settings for murder. Reaching back to the Early Middle Ages, this coastal corner of England has been home to some of the most infamous killers in the history of the United Kingdom. This chilling volume exploring the lives and crimes of twelve of the county’s worst offenders. From the legendary Dick Turpin, England’s most notorious highwayman, to the twentieth-century killings of Pamela Coventry and Josephine Backshall, criminal historian Paul Donnelly uncovers a terrifying legacy that spans from the seventeenth century to the 1970s. Vividly reconstructing people, places, events, and investigations, Donnelly delves into such vicious crimes as the Moat Farm murder of Saffron Walden and the career of England’s longest-serving hangman, William Calcraft.

Two films and numerous books have attempted to tell the shocking story of two of Britain's most ruthless gangs. For 20 years, the Essex Boys firm and their successors, the New Generation, controlled a lucrative drugs empire in Essex and throughout the south east of England by using intimidation, gratuitous violence and murder. Rampaging through the streets and clubland, they destroyed anything and anybody that dared to get in their way. Eventually torn apart by greed and paranoia, the gang members became victims of their own vile trade and hate-filled actions. Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe were all blasted repeatedly with a shotgun as they sat in their Range Rover down a remote farm track. Dean Boshell was lured to allotments, then beaten and shot execution-style three times through the head. Others, such as Darren Nicholls and Damon Alvin, turned Super Grass and disappeared into the witness protection scheme never to be seen again, while three other men are in prison serving life sentences. Steve `Nipper` Ellis is the last man standing, the only member to have survived the bloody reign of both gangs. In Essex Boy, he tells his shocking story for the first time, and reveals just how close he came to being both murderer and murder victim.