Murder cop's 'affair with victim's lover'

A SENIOR detective on the notorious Essex Boys triple murder case is alleged to have had a romantic relationship with one of the victim’s girlfriends, a probe reveals.

- Jon Austin

The improper relationship between Detective Inspector George Florence and Donna Jaggers, the former partner of murder victim Craig Rolfe, was not disclosed at the trial of Michael Steele and Jack Whomes.

The pair were convicted of the murders of drug dealers Pat Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, drug dealers Pat Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, and Rolfe, 26, in 1998 but have always insisted they are innocent.

The failure to disclose the relationship between DI Florence, the deputy senior investigating officer in the murder hunt, poses questions, as Ms Jaggers went on to become a prosecution witness, say a team of former Scotland Yard murder detectives.

They have independently reviewed the original investigation over four years, before compiling a 132-page dossier, now handed to the Criminal Case Review Commission by Whomes and Steele’s lawyers.