On 6th December 1995 Tony Tucker, Pat Tate & Craig Rolfe were murdered in Workhouse Lane, Rettendon, Essex. This is the story of the man who was left behind. Rise of the Footsoldier II 2015 starring Charlie Heaton & Daniel Adegboyega & Steven Berkoff & Luke Mably & Kiera Bell & Craig Fairbrass & Terry Stone & Chris Brazier & Ricci Harnett et al, director Ricci Harnett
When an execution is carried out in my world there’s no military parade, no music, no march past. It’s just a hideous death. No guilt. No remorse. That’s the way it’s always been. ibid.
People are starting to take fucking liberties. ibid. gangster
My name is Carlton Leach. Born and raised in the East End of London … One especially is my best mate Tony Tucker … Essex Boys: Law of Survival 2015 starring Jesse Birdstall & Chris & Ross Boatman & Megan Lockhurst & Mark Sears & Abbie Steele & James Hodcroft & Jake Francis et al, director Steven M Smith
There’s a new generation of Essex boys that have come through. ibid.
It was the start of an era. But before the murders, before the the doors, the pills and all the ag & Tony, before all of that, there was Marbella. Rise of the Foot Soldier III 2017 starring Craig Fairbrass & Larry Lamb & Terry Stone & Roland Manookian & Jamie Foreman & Josh Myers & Eddie Webber & Ian Virgo & Andy Beckwith & Shaun Ryder et al, director Zackary Adler
Pills got me up but I needed the charlie to stay sharp. ibid.
The world was changing. Essex was changing. And drugs were changing. Punters wanted a buzz that would keep them up all night … Charlie and pills were the order of the day. ibid.
It’s the violence that’s the problem. ibid. brief
We are going to take over this fucking town. ibid. Pat
I’ll take on the fucking world if I have to. ibid.
Essex 1995: What the fuck’s he doing in the motor with Tony and Pat? The Hooligan Factory 2014 starring Jason Maza & Nick Nevern & Tom Burke & Ray Fearon & Steven O’Donnell & Morgan Watkins & Josef Altin & Leo Gregory & Keith-Lee Castle & Ronnie Fox & Ian Lavender & Danny Dyer et al, director Nick Nevern, opening scene
Rettendon, Essex, 7th December 1995: ‘Police have launched a murder inquiry after three men were found shot dead in Essex. A farmer discovered the bodies this morning in a Range Rover parked on a farm track near Chelmsford.’ The Essex Murders I: Ecstasy & Agony, TV news, Sky Showcase 2023
‘Are the real killers behind bars?’ ibid. rozzer
By 1989 Rave is revolutionising the British music scene. And making ecstasy the fastest growing drug in the UK. ibid. captions
‘I’d discovered a complete new universe.’ ibid. Carlton Leach
Tony Tucker: ‘He had power, money, drugs, and a feeling of being invincible.’ ibid. dude
‘Paul [Leah Betts’ father] was ruled out of any involvement.’ ibid.
‘We’ve got somebody from the underworld who is talking to us and saying I can tell you who did it. It was huge.’ ibid.
‘Nicholls offered to become a supergrass and give evidence about what happened on the night of the murders.’ ibid.
ESTABAN, GISELLE: True Crime with Aphrodite Jones TV -
A mysterious disappearance. A murky lab of friendship and romance. And a family in the dark. It’s a case of deceit, obsession and betrayal. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones s4e4: Sex, Death & Videotape, ID 2013
A young nurse who was bitterly betrayed … Nursing student Michelle Le is on the last day of a training rotation … Michelle never returned from the hospital garage. ibid.
Who is pretending to be Michelle and what have they done with her? ibid.
Police pay a late-night visit to Giselle Estaban, a high-school friend who had a falling-out with Michelle. The single mother is home. ibid.
Scott dates Michelle first and then moves on to a relationship with Giselle … The relationship with Giselle is a tangled web. ibid.
‘The video showed Giselle walking around in the campus.’ ibid. rozzer
What’s behind Giselle’s obsessive jealousy? ibid.
EUBANKS, LESTER: Unsolved Mysteries TV -
To go from death row to the shopping mall and then allow him to escape is unfathomable. Unsolved Mysteries s2e3: Death Row Fugitive, rozzer, Netflix 2020
Marl Ellen Deener was shot. The police were able to determine what calibre of gun that she was shot with. So they started going to all the gun stores … A weapon that fit the description of the gun that was used to shoot Mary Ellen and it was purchased by Lester Eubanks. ibid.
1973: As part of this furlough programme for prisoners along with Lester Eubanks were allowed to go on a Christmas shopping trip. ibid.
Jack Whomes and Michael Steele always protested their innocence. They say they have spent over twenty-five years in prison for a murder they didn’t commit. The Essex Murders II: Secrets and Lies, ex-rozzer
Could a petty criminal with no previous history of firearms really have carried out one of the biggest gangland murders in UK history? ibid.
The vehicle had no fingerprints, no fibres, no blood that linked either Steele or Whomes to this scene. ibid.
Darren Nicholls told police that he drove Steele and Whomes on the night of the murders. ibid.
We found evidence that raises serious doubts about what he [Nicholls] said on the witness stand. The Essex Murders III: Truth & Justice
I never had the bloody chance … I said, Dad, what the hell have you done? Don’t worry, nobody knows. He told me he killed them. He did it for his family. ibid. Steve Nipper Ellis
In 2014, a leaked police report suggested a crime boss was secretly taped discussing killing the Essex boys just before their deaths. The conversation was logged by a surveillance officer. The report added to growing evidence the Essex boys had upset a number of major London crime groups. ibid. captions
Investigating the links with organised crime, TM Eye has discovered a series of police interviews with a defence witness. He claimed a major crime syndicate ordered the murders after the Essex Boys stole money from them. ibid.
EVANS, GARY: Crime Stories TV - Sun Sentinel online -
A father who vanished without trace. An old friend with a nasty reputation. And a horrific betrayal that no-one expected. Crime Stories: Friendly Fire
Dana had last spoken to Tim [Rysedorph] at one o’clock in the morning. He said he’d run into an old friend who needed some help and he would home soon. But she never heard from him again. ibid.
Evans took aim and killed his childhood friend. ibid.
Over the next five days Evans confessed to several more murders. ibid.
He threw himself from the bridge. ibid.
Police unearthed a gruesome discovery west of Lake Worth on Tuesday, supporting the confession of a 30-year career antiques thief that he killed a friend and buried him 1,300 miles from home.
Using a detailed map meticulously drafted by murder suspect Gary Evans, who has confessed to five killings to New York state police, investigators dug up a shallow grave west of Lake Worth containing the remains of Michael Falco, who Evans told police he shot in 1985.
The find was the latest grisly discovery by detectives who stumbled upon Evans' criminal past by accident.
Investigators said Evans’ jailhouse confession led to the discovery of two other bodies, including a childhood friend who was shot execution-style, dismembered with a chain saw and buried in a shallow grave.
‘Gary Evans is a ruthless, cold killer,’ New York State Police investigator Charles D Sullivan said at a news conference Tuesday. ‘He is a unique individual, and his ruthlessness is proven by five homicides.’ Sun Sentinel online article C Ron Allen 15th July 1988, ‘Shallow Grave Yields Body'
EVANS, GEOFFREY & JOHN SHAW: Britain’s Most Evil Killers TV -
September 22nd 1976, Ireland: 23-year-old Mary Duffy finished working the last shift at the Wimpy Bar restaurant in the town of Castlebar in County Mayo … She had no idea that two English killers were watching her as she headed home. Three weeks earlier another young woman, Elizabeth Plunkett, her body now lying at the bottom of the Irish Sea. Britain’s Most Evil Killers s6e8: Geoffrey Evans & John Shaw, Sky Crime 2021
EVANS, JAMES & WENDY GARDNER: Killer Kids TV -
James Evans [15] is a bomb just waiting to explode. All he needs is something to set him off, and Wendy Gardner [13] would do just that … When Betty [grandmother] is dead the teenagers drag her body out and put it in her car truck. Killer Kids s1e5: Family Killers, LMN 2011
EVANS, MILES: Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
Warminster in Wiltshire January 1997: one of the biggest police searches in history. The girl’s name was Zoe Evans … Zoe had no apparent reason to run away. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e7: Fadi Nasri & Miles Evans, ID 2017
His [Evans] appeal created a very different impression. But was that feeling of unease justified? ibid.
The DNA results arrived: they pointed to one person. ibid.
EVANS, TIM & BERYL: see CHRISTIE, JOHN
EVERSON, ANDREW: Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
‘A truly cowardly act. The killer had lured him to a remote rural location, he was robbed and he was knelt on the ground. His glasses had been removed … This was a pre-planed, cold-blooded execution.’ Faking It: Tears of a Crime s5e5: Killer at My Funeral, Richard Slee, ITV news reporter, Discovery 2021
The victim was 31-year-old David Watkins from Reading. ibid.
The case against Everson was only just beginning … Then there were the forensics … It would be another quarter century before the wheels of justice finally caught up with him. ibid.