09/09/06 - North-East man arrested in Essex Boys blackmail probe
NORTHERN ECHO

POLICE have arrested a North-East man over an alleged blackmail plot linked to the infamous Essex Boys murders.

The man was detained by detectives on behalf of West Midlands Police.

It is alleged the suspect posed as a member of a well-known Newcastle criminal family to demand £50,000 cash from a man now living in the Birmingham area.

The blackmail plot investigation centres on an attempt to implicate the man in the gangland killing of three suspected drugs dealers in a Range Rover abandoned in an Essex field.

A farmer discovered the bodies of three men - all career criminals - on the morning of December 7, 1995 in a Range Rover parked in a remote farm track in Rettendon, near Chelmsford.

Tony Tucker, Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe had been shot in the head. The trio had allegedly been involved in the supply of cannabis and ecstasy which led to the death of teenager Leah Betts.

A former bouncer from the village of Pelton, near Chester-le-Street in County Durham, was arrested on Thursday and transferred to the West Midlands for questioning.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said last night: "We can confirm we are investigating a complaint of blackmail and inquiries are ongoing."

Two men are serving life terms for the murders of Tucker, Tate and Rolfe.

However, the family of one of the convicted killers has campaigned tirelessly for the convictions to be overturned as a miscarriage of justice.

Jack Whomes has always protested his innocence, along with his co-defendant Michael Steele.

The arrest of the former pub doorman in the North-East came after detectives at Rose Road police station, in Harborne, Birmingham, received a complaint from a man in Birmingham.

It was claimed the suspect had demanded cash, falsely using the name of a Tyneside criminal, or he would divulge evidence to the media linking the man to involvement in the Rettendon murders.

The murders inspired the film Essex Boys - a dark and violent fictional look at British gangsters starring Sean Bean and Tom Wilkinson.

The Whomes case has now been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission