Rettendon murders

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The Rettendon murders (also known as the Range Rover murders or the Essex Boys murders) were the killings of Anthony “Tony” Tucker, aged 38, Patrick “Pat” Tate, aged 37, and Craig Rolfe, aged 26, on 6 December 1995 near the village of Rettendon in Essex, England. The three men were shot at point-blank range while seated inside a metallic-blue Range Rover parked on Workhouse Lane, a secluded farm track on the outskirts of the village. Michael Steele and Jack Whomes were convicted of the three murders at the Old Bailey in January 1998 and each received three concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. The prosecution said that the killings followed a dispute over a consignment of cannabis and relied partly upon the evidence of Darren Nicholls, who testified that he had acted as the getaway driver. Steele and Whomes denied committing the murders and continued to maintain their innocence after their convictions. Their appeals were rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2006, and the Criminal Cases Review Commission decided in 2023 not to refer the convictions for another appeal. Whomes was released on licence in 2021, followed by Steele in May 2025. The murders attracted widespread publicity and have been portrayed in several films about the Essex criminal underworld. These include Essex Boys (2000), starring Sean Bean, and the Rise of the Footsoldier film series.