Essex Boys murder convictions being reviewed again
The Parole Board approved 82-year-old Steele's release from prison on Thursday, four years after Whomes was freed."It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment while the applications are under review," a CCRC spokesperson said.The gangland executions on a farm track in Rettendon inspired the 2000 film Essex Boys, starring Sean Bean, as well as the Rise of the Footsoldier television franchise.Various other documentaries and books examined its links to the 1990s rave scene.
David McKelvey, a retired Met Police detective chief inspector who was involved in the original investigations, said he was "absolutely convinced" the wrong men were convicted.It was Mr McKelvey who arrested Darren Nicholls in May 1996 for drugs offences, before the suspect turned so-called supergrass and gave evidence against the defendants.The former detective chief inspector, now a private investigator, said he was contacted with new evidence about the case "almost on a weekly basis"."[Steele] should never have been convicted in the first place," said Mr McKelvey, speaking to BBC Essex on Friday."There is absolutely, categorically, new evidence."More importantly, there was evidence at the time within [Essex Police's] systems that would prove categorically who actually did kill these people."Despite having arrested him, Mr McKelvey said Nicholls's witness account contained "blatant lies".
The Court of Appeal rejected both killers' bids for freedom in 1999 and 2006, with further appeals dismissed in 2013 and 2016.The CCRC has reviewed their convictions before, including as recently as January 2023, when it concluded there was "no real possibility" the Court of Appeal would overturn the convictions.The CCRC, which is an independent body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, launches fresh appeals when strong new evidence or new arguments are presented.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "This case has been exhaustively examined over the last 27 years."We will of course always work with the CCRC and keep any new information under review."
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Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Lucy Letby: Eight things we've learned about killer nurse's life behind bars
Letby, despite having been sentenced to spend the rest of her life behind bars, has found a way to chalk out a cushy existence in the murderer's wing at HMP Bronzefield Serial baby killer Lucy Letby has established a whole new life behind bars, where she is said to have established a high-security friendship with a fellow convicted killer - and be living in a "really nice wing". Letby, 35, will spend the rest of her life in jail after she was found to have killed seven babies, and to have attempted to kill a further seven at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester between June 2015 and June 2016. She was convicted in August 2023 on overwhelming evidence and sentenced to 15 whole life terms, which she is currently serving at HMP Bronzefield. Letby, who has appealed her prison sentence twice and been rejected as many times, maintains her innocence, and her legal team has now launched a third challenge despite the lack of previous success. Mark McDonald, her now lawyer, has submitted "new evidence" to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) backed by 14 neonatal and paediatric experts. Letby's killer prison 'best friend' Letby is said to have struck up a friendship with a fellow high-profile prisoner and child killer behind the bars of HMP Bronzefield - Beinash Batool. Batool, 30, was found guilty for the murder of Sara Sharif last year alongside the 10-year-old's father, Urfan, with the court having heard during their trial the "evil and psycho" stepmother had tied up the "terrified" youngster with packaging tape at home before her death. She was sentenced to 33 years behind bars, and met Letby in prison, where the two have reportedly struck up a close relationship. Prison sources have said they can be seen "playing cards" on most days and "chatting". Letby's 'special treatment' Alongside Batool, Letby is reportedly receiving special treatment behind bars thanks to an incentive scheme made available to prisoners. A source from Houseblock Four, where female murderers are locked up, told The Mirror the two are reaping the rewards of the government's Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme. The scheme, which awards good behaviour, reportedly allows the convicted killer and Batool to get her nails and hair done. The source said: "When she and Beinash go to the salon, the whole salon has to be shut down, because they are scared that other prisoners will attack them and obviously there are scissors and stuff there. "They go at least once a month, she's always getting her nails done and always getting her hair done, Beinash is always up there with her. This place is like an upside down world." Prisoners' threats to Letby A Bronzefield inmate has claimed that Letby is being threatened by her fellow prisoners, adding that she likely "wouldn't have survived" if she were being kept with the general population. One inmate told the Mirror: 'If she was out in general pop she wouldn't have survived. There are women here with nothing to lose, they have said they will kill her, what's one more life sentence when you're already serving life?' They added: 'There is so much hate for her here, so much hatred." Letby's routine - and her key jobs The Mirror has also been told about Letby's prison routine, which includes duties for both her fellow prisoners and behind bars employment. The prison inmate said Letby gets up every morning to make toast for other prisoners in her wing of Houseblock Four, and they sit down for breakfast at 8am. Just an hour after breakfast, she sets off just like general public workers for her 9am job working in the laundry. There, she takes dirty clothes from the women and returns them cleaned. The inmate said: "In the house block there are three wings and we are on the same wing. She does the toast in the morning, she does the laundry for our wing, so yeah she's very pleasant , very reserved, she's always nice to people even when they are being shit to her and she will try to help where she can." Nurse moans she's 'fattest I've ever been' The well-placed jobs to which Letby has been assigned cme with a stipend that the nurse has been using to pay for food. She reportedly spends upto £50 per week on crisps and sweets. One inmate said that the multiple murderer is "really pi****g off" the other women as she stuffs her face with Quality Street chocolates and crisps. The Mirror's source said: "She gets almost £20 a week, which in prison money is a lot. She buys loads, and loads of junk food. She's put on loads of weight, she's got quite fat, you wouldn't recognise her. It's all put on around her face," our source said. "She was moaning that she's the fattest she's ever been. She weighs 72 kilos [almost 11 stone 5oz] - she's not fat, but fat for her, you know as she was really, really skinny. She really loves doughnuts and we often get them for dessert here, but she claims to be eating healthily because she's vegetarian, but meanwhile she'll stuff her face with sweets and chocolate." How the killer nurse is described by other prisoners The Mirror's Bronzefield insider has also told how the killer nurse is described by her fellow inmates. The anonymous inmate said that, despite believing she is innocent, Letby is "very weird" and not someone who comes across as particularly sympathetic. She said: "She's very weird. I do believe her, but the unfortunate thing is she doesn't come across as very sympathetic, she's not very friendly. "She's just odd, she has a weird look, when she think someone is looking at her, she's staring at people." Letby's 'unusual' prison visits A prison source speaking to the Daily Mail has said the nurse receives "a lot of legal visits", which is "unusual" for a convicted prisoner. The content of the meetings, they added, is unclear, with staff not allowed to be party to them. But they said fellow inmates tend to gossip about what might happen when they take place. She said: "She still has a lot of legal visits, which is unusual for a convicted prisoner. Obviously staff can't be part of those meetings, but there is a lot of talk about what might go on in them." Life under constant guard While she has a silver of freedom behind bars thanks to her well-paying jobs, Letby is so hated that she must spend her time under near-constant guard. She is being checked every 15 minutes at HMP Bronzefield, under the parameters of an ACCT order. ACCT orders are meant to safeguard "prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm". A source told The Sun she appears to have also "deluded herself" into thinking she will "be out soon". She said: "It has mostly been comments so far, but bosses are worried it'll escalate, hence the extra checks. The other reason is that she appears to have deluded herself she'll be out soon."
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Stoke Newington shooting: 16-year bloody gang war behind hit that wounded girl, 9
We catalogue a string of murders dating back to 2009 as a detective warns that 'the tensions now have spiralled beyond any drug disputes and it's just an ongoing hatred between the two groups' The bloody gangland feud that left a young girl with a bullet in her brain has seen at least a dozen gun deaths over the last 16 years, the Mirror can reveal. They include the murder of all three of the brothers who led the Tottenham Turks gang and a string of family members belonging to the rival Hackney Bombers group. It comes after a leading member of the gang targeted in the shooting was gunned down earlier this month in an attack that a source suspects is "part of the same war". We have catalogued the brutal violence after drug dealer Javon Riley, 33, was today found guilty of helping a gunman to carry out an attack that left a nine-year-old girl fighting for her life. Riley, from Tottenham, north London, was convicted at the Old Bailey of three charges of attempted murder and a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to the nine-year-old girl. Three men in the target group were hit by separate shots. Kenan Aydogdu, 45, Mustafa Kiziltan, 38, and Nasser Ali, 43, all survived the attack. The shooting, at the Evin restaurant in Dalston, north east London, was part of a battle between the Kurdish Turks, who once dominated the heroin trade to Britain, that began in 2009. Speaking outside court, Det Chief Insp Ben Dalloway said of the violence: "It's more personal now, it's about getting revenge rather than attacking someone because they are dealing drugs in your area." An attack on Kemal Armagan, who has 13 convictions, is said to have sparked a murderous feud in January 2009. Armagan, a leading member of the Hackney Bombers, was beaten up in the Manor Club in Finsbury Park, north London. He is now wanted for the murder of shopkeeper Ahmet Paytak, 50, who was shot in Holloway, north London, two months later. Both Mr Paytak and his son, who was hit in the leg, were "truly in the wrong place at the wrong time", the Old Bailey heard. The gunman was hired by Armagan, who was involved in a deadly feud with the Tottenham Turks, the jury was told. The rider of a motorcycle used in the attack, Michael James, was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence. Hitman Ricardo Dwyer, 26, of Hackney, East London, also got life. Armagan, who "cannot at present be found", had been shot and wounded two months earlier, said prosecutor Ed Brown KC. Izzet Eren survived after he was shot in Tottenham later that year. The following month Tottenham Turk Oktay Erbasli was shot dead in front of his five-year-old son. Erbasli, 23, was in a Range Rover and had stopped at the junction of Cambridge Road and The Roundway in Tottenham when a biker pulled up beside him and opened fire. He was hit in the head in front as his son looked on. Cem Duzgun was the next victim, blasted in the head, body, arms and legs with a Mac 11 submachine gun as he played a game of pool with his friends at Clapton Football Club in Hackney, east London. The Old Bailey later heard that Mr Duzgan was shot 11 times in revenge, though he was not thought to be the intended target. The attack's mastermind, leading Tottenham Boy Yusuf Arslan, was jailed for a minimum of 33 years for the murder. On 1 February 2012 the head of one of the families involved, Kemal Armagan's brother Ali, 32, was shot dead as he sat in his custom-built Audi A8 outside Turnpike Lane underground station. Kemal Eren, a cousin of Izzet Eren, fled the UK while wanted for the murder. He was shot and paralysed in Elbistan, southern Turkey, shortly afterwards and is now known as "no fingers" due to injuries he suffered to his hand during the attack. Kemal Eren is now believed to lead the organisation and is suspected of being involved in ordering the Evin restaurant shooting. In April 2013, Izzet's brother Zafer, then the leader of the Tottenham Turks, was shot dead on his doorstep by a hitman known as 'Freddy", nicknamed after Freddy Krueger, from the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. Baytullah Gunduz, a member of the Bombers, was later cleared of recruiting the gunman. It was Gunduz who was believed to be the main target of the Evin restaurant attack. After the death of his older brother, Izzet Eren took over the leadership of the Tottenham Turks organised crime group. Sources claim Turkish police were told in 2014 Eren flew from London to kill Ibrahim Aslan but murdered his nephew Ilhan Kabala instead when he could not find his original target. Mr Kabala was shot dead outside a bar in Bodrum, Turkey, in 2014. Aslan had apparently been tipped off and fled four days before the shooting . His involvement in the violence can be traced back to 2003 when, at 21, he tried to shoot dead a Turkish man at a petrol station in Tottenham, North London. Aslan was jailed for 13 years for attempted murder alongside Bombers founder Abdullah Baybasin and Erdal Ozmen, who was murdered earlier this month. Cafer Aslan, 54, believed to have been Aslan's older brother, was shot dead in Enfield, North London, in August 2017. The following February, Aslan's nephew Bulent Kabala, 41, was hit by a blue Ford Transit while driving in nearby Cockfosters and shot four times. In December 2015 armed police thwarted a bid to free Izzet Eren from a custody van outside Wood Green Crown Court, North London. Eren was serving 14 years after he was caught with a machine gun while allegedly on his way to carry out a hit in revenge for the murder of his brother. Jermaine Baker was shot dead by a police marksman as he attempted to free the gang leader. Eren's only surviving brother, Huseyin, was killed in Turkey in 2020 while on a family holiday in the southern city of Elbistan. The 24-year-old was shot dead in front of wife and child. Izzet Eren was himself gunned down in July last year in Moldova in a suspected revenge attack for the Evin restaurant shooting. Kemal Armagan is suspected of killing his long-time rival with the help of British former solicitor Toper Hassan. Hassan is currently fighting extradition to Moldova. Aslan, 40, posted a chilling message last July hours after Eren was shot. Below popping champagne corks emojis, he warned: "If you are my friend you stay alive, if you are my enemy you will be fd." Armagan was arrested in Turkey last year where he is wanted for another murder. The latest suspected victim of the battle was Eldal Ozmen, 45, who was gunned down earlier this month a short walk from the Eren restaurant, amid fears it was a revenge attack. Ozmen was part of the Hackney Bombers and detectives are now understood to be investigating whether the murder was retaliation for the killing of Izzet Eren. A law enforcement source told the Mirror: "I think it's the same war." But the Metropolitan Police said that the motive for the latest murder "remains unclear". No arrests have been made. CCTV shows the suspected gunmen escaping in a black Kia sport's car with the help of a getaway driver who calmly stops at traffic lights seconds after the shooting. A friend of the dead man said: "Someone shot him in the back then came back and kicked him and shot him another two times. When they left, they waited 25 seconds at the traffic lights. They didn't hide their face, no masks, nothing." Kicking the victim after shooting him would appear to signify that this was a crime motivated by emotion rather than money. Mr Dalloway said: "I think historically drugs and firearms have been what fuels this violence but the tensions now have spiralled beyond any drug disputes and it's just an ongoing hatred between the two groups."
The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Major motorway closed in both directions due to ‘police incident' as motorists face ‘severe delays'
THE M25 has been closed in both directions due to an ongoing police incident. Drivers have been warned they face severe delays along a stretch of the major motorway between Upminster and Aveley. Essex Police were called to an incident between J29 and J30 earlier this morning. Emergency services including an ambulance and paramedics were stationed at the scene from just before 12pm. A National Highways spokesperson said: "The M25 is CLOSED in both directions between J29 (Upminster) and J30 (Aveley) due to an Essex Police incident. "Strategic diversion routes are in operation. If this closure impacts on your planned route, please allow extra journey time." 1 is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.
