A NEW DOCUMENTARY claims the men jailed for the Rettendon Essex Boys executions ‘did not carry out the murders’.

Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe were blasted to death with a shotgun as they sat in their Range Rover in a deserted country lane in Rettendon in December 1995.

Jack Whomes and Michael Steele, 56, were arrested five months later and charged with the killings.

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They were jailed in January 1998 following a four-month trial at the Old Bailey.

Whomes, who was released on parole in 2021, and Steele, who is still in prison, continue to protest their innocence.

Essex Police say the case has been "exhaustively” investigated and that there is no fresh evidence to call the convictions into question.

However, a new documentary, The Essex Murders, set to air on Sky Documentaries, claims the wrong men were jailed.

Private investigators say they believe the real killer has walked free.

David McKelvey, a former Met Police detective who led the documentary’s investigation, told Sky News: "We would not be trying to get anybody out of prison who we didn't believe was innocent. Jack Whomes and Michael Steele did not do this."

Mr McKelvey admits Whomes and Steele had been involved in the drugs trade.

"But they did not carry out this murder," he said. "And the important point here is: they didn't do it, someone else did - and that person or those people are still on the streets."

The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the evidence of “supergrass” Darren Nicholls was given a new identity and put into hiding after assisting the investigation.

He claims he acted as the getaway driver and picked up Whomes and Steele at the end of the country lane minutes after the murders had been committed.

He had been arrested in May 1996 on suspicion of possessing a large amount of cannabis that had been imported into Clacton from the Netherlands.

Facing a long prison sentence, the Mr Nicholls offered himself up as having been involved in the Rettendon murders.

He claimed the three victims had been killed over a bad drugs deal, stating he had been the getaway driver from Whomes and Steele, for which he was placed under witness protection.

Essex Police described its investigation into the murders as “exhaustive”.

“Since then, this case has been back before the Court of Appeal twice, in 1999 and 2006. These appeals have included focus upon key evidential aspects of the case,” a force spokesman added.

“Both appeals were rejected and in 2006 Lord Justice Kay commented that there was no ‘element of unsafety’ relating to the original convictions of both defendants.

“This case has also been reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission who, as recently as January 2023, took the decision not to refer this case back to the Court of Appeal. We welcome this decision as this case has been exhaustively examined over the last 27-years and there is no fresh evidence identified which would call the original verdicts into question.”