Does this footprint mean the real Essex Boys killer is still at large?

Ex-cop urges new look at gang hit

- TOM PETTIFOR

FOOTPRINTS of the suspected Essex Boys gunman have been identified, casting further doubt over the convictions of two men jailed for the killings.

Jack Whomes and Michael Steele were given life for blasting three drug dealers with a shotgun in their Range Rover 29 years ago.

But ex-Met detective David McKelvey has now spotted Reebok trainer footprints in the snow where the shooter would have stood. 

Mr McKelvey said the Betts die evidence, caught in police crime scene photographs, was previously missed and claims it supports the account of East End crook Billy Jasper who told police he was the getaway driver and the killer wore Reebok trainers.

Mr McKelvey, who runs private investigation firm TM-Eye, said: "This could reopen the case, casting doubt on the guilt of Steele and Whomes and suggesting the real perpetrator(s) remain at large.

The bodies of Pat Tate, 36, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26, were found on a farm track in Rettendon, Essex, on December 7, 1995.

Their deaths inspired the gritty 2000 film Essex Boys, starring Sean Bean.

Cocaine addict and gofer Rolfe was found behind the wheel. He was suspected of murdering a drug dealer days earlier.