Wednesday, 14th January 1998
SUMMING-UP (Continued) Page 3

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boot. They got on the boat and looked in the box at the back. They used torches on the Range Rover and the boat. I didn't take any concern because I knew there was nothing to find. One commented on the iron bar in the Range Rover. It was a piece of reinforcing rod which is used as a drift and to knock out a shackle on the spring handle. It was between the passenger seat and the centre. The officer said, 'I suppose you have got an explanation for this', and I showed him the bits where I'd used it to knock the starter motor and he said, ' I thought you had a logical explanation'.

He put it back. We were then cleaning the boat out. Mick had put it in the Range Rover. We were cleaning the boat out because it had petrol. A van pulled up then a dark coloured car and a customs officer said, 'arrest the lot'. "It felt like I was there a good time, an hour or longer. We were taken to the Ipswich police station and then to Customs House." Members of the jury, I will break off there. If you would be back please at ten to twelve. It is clear now that I shall not finish summing-up this morning and therefore it is clear now that it will be tomorrow that you go out rather than today. I thought I had better let you know that as early as possible.

(Brief adjournment).

JUSTICE HIDDEN: Mr Whomes, as I was telling you just before we broke, was taken to the Ipswich police station with the others and then to the Customs house. "They checked on a computer. There was a strip search and then our clothes were given back." They put him in a cell, came back with clothes and blankets and he was so tired that he fell asleep until ten o'clock. Earlier, they had asked him if he wanted a phone call and he had said no, he did not want to tell his wife he had been arrested and worry her. After he woke up he asked to the talk to the duty solicitor. He came about four o'clock and Mr Whomes received certain advice.

They came out of the police station at about half past eight that night and they were all out of the Customs house it was that they were at by then together and they all went home. Peter's wife and, you remember, his family were there. Before they went home they went round the corner to a pub and had a drink. They sat talking and waited to be picked up. His next door neighbour picked him up and Jackie Street picked Mr Steele up. He had a letter later about his arrest, saying there would be no further action. He collected the Range Rover and on a separate occasion, later on, picked up the boat. He could not remember the dates. They would not let him have the boat back at first. As to Meadow Cottage, Whomes said that in mid-November after the arrest Mick took him there to see what it was like.

The first thing Whomes did was drive in the JCB on the day of the bonfire, which was the 2nd December. He said he could give you the date because he found the JCB and the people who had it for hire. Mick collected it the Friday night, the 1st December. On the 2nd December he got to Mick's about midday with his son, JJ. He got the transit and the transport trailer. There were some evergreen trees. He took those off with the JCB. There were bushes, sand and old boxes and a caravan made from an old lorry. He picked it up and put it on the fire. He started building the bonfire before with the JCB and he was there until four or five and then drove home and, after a shower, came back for the party. He gave you a list of the people who were there. It was a firework day party with a big bonfire and plenty to drink. Talking about the house, he said it was a derelict house which was empty with nothing in. The ladies were using the bathroom inside, but the men were using the garden for toilet purposes.

It was frosty and damp. There was a light on from the generator. The building was not touched inside. He went back next morning on Sunday, 3rd December with JJ and JJ's mate to carry on and start getting the grass off to get full use out of JCB. Mick took it back on Monday, 4th December. The next time he had contact with Mick was over the trailer. He wanted his trailer back. It was very shortly after bonfire night. He had had the trailer in his possession. Mick had a white tank. He could see it in photograph 6. It was a plastic tank. It was what he kept white diesel in. Mick had one which was identical to his. "Mick kept his on the back of the trailer for me to put diesel into the tank. He wanted diesel. Dennis Whomes came over and wanted his Citroen worked on and two new spheres put on. He couldn't get the old ones off. He noticed the trailer and took a liking to it and I told him £300 for it. Mick wanted £300 for it, so I asked Dennis for £400 to make £100 and I also said I would do his car for nothing if he sold the trailer.

I couldn't do it straight away because I had a lorry in the yard which was stripped down, it was a Bedford. Dennis said he'd leave it with me if I could give him something to go home in. I had my brother Johnny's old van, an Astra van, and that is what Dennis took the trailer away behind. I had done his suspension and the next day, I believe, that's the following day he came and picked his car up. He brought the van back and took the car away. He didn't bring the trailer. I told him I needed the trailer back because somebody else needed it. I didn't tell him it was Mick. The day after he picked the Citroen up. I went down to Bulphan, where he lives, to pick up the trailer. When I got there there was no-one home. I even went back round the back to see if they hadn't heard it. I just wrote a note, 'Bubby called, back tomorrow.' I left it at that and went back home. I called in to Mick's on the way home and told him I didn't get his trailer. I said I'd go back tomorrow to get it." .

Members of the jury, he then said something which you may remember. He said, "This must have been the 5th December because it was the 6th December that I went and got it." "This must have been the 5th December because it was the 6th December that I went and got it," and then he changed the words and said, "I was supposed to have gone there. First of all, he was saying that he went and got it on the 6th, and then he was correcting himself to, "I was expected to have gone there." Having dealt with that correction, he then went on to describe the 6th December. He said, "I was on the docks that day, unloading soya beans until about one o'clock time." He said, "The boats come in and there are 1,000 to 6,000 tons: animal feed, soya, wheat or barley. There is a crane on rails, there is a hopper.

You unload by dock shunting." He told you the details that do not really affect you, but were part of his evidence that six-wheelers take seven grabs and an artic takes 18 grabs. You take the load into the shed, which was no more than a quarter of a mile away. He said he finished unloading the boat. He brought some diesel back in the cans, five gallon cans, for Gordon. He got it from the grain terminal tank from the flow meter and pump. He said, "I got back to the yard about two o'clock. The ship was unloaded by then. If you start at 7.30 you can finish about one o'clock. I was in the yard, loading a Dexter (?) tractor into a car transport-type trailer, my trailer. You either drive it or winch it off. The tractor was going off to Mick's because he wanted to borrow it. You can pull timber with it or strip anything out like bushes. The load was attached to the blue transit. I set off about three o'clock, quarter past three, to go to Mick's at Aingers Green. I had to go there to get the keys to get into Meadow Cottage anyway."

He was asked when he went and he said he left at three to a quarter past three and it was a 45 minute journey, so he arrive at Aingers Green at Oaklands at four o'clock or just before. He said, "I pulled up outside. I told Mick I'd got to pick up a motor for Darren Nicholls. I suggested to him that he go and get the trailer on his own. I took the tractor over to Meadow Cottage. Mick Steele had given me the keys." Now of course in this passage in this evidence he had not yet told you about Colin Bridge coming to the yard and the arrangement being made to pick up a "Passat, Col in Bridge wanting to borrow his trailer, he saying he could not borrow the trailer but he offering to pick up the Passat. He had not told you about that at the moment. He was just telling you that at about four o'clock he was telling me that he had got to pick up a motor for Darren Nicholls. He went on to say the trip to Meadow Cottage took about 15 minutes. He took the tractor off the back and parked it near the entrance to the garage. Then he came to why it was that he had that day to pick up a car for Darren Nicholls.

He said Colin Bridge came in to his yard at Barham that day when he was loading the tractor on. It was about two o'clock, 2.20 or half past two. Colin was in an escort van and wanted to borrow Whomes's transport trailer to pick up the vehicle which Whomes himself eventually picked up, the Passat. Whomes said he knew Colin because he had seen him at Meadow Cottage and he had come into the yard with Darren Nicholls once before. You will remember Colin Bridge's evidence was that he had not been to the yard before. That is another dispute between witnesses which you have to resolve. "Colin explained Darren had got a vehicle broken down and wanted to borrow my trailer to pick it up. I told him he couldn't borrow my trailer, I wouldn't lend it to him. I had the tractor on it anyway.

Also his escort van wouldn't pull it, the trailer. I told him that. It could pull the trailer empty but not if it was loaded. I told him to tell me where the vehicle was and I'd go and pick it up. " So his evidence was that he was making that offer. He did not know where the vehicle was. "Colin said he'd have a word with Darren and come back to me. He disappeared for a little while, about 15 to 20 minutes, and returned and said Darren had said, 'Pick it up.' I agreed to do this and just said I'd pick it up. I asked him where it was and he said, 'On the Chelmsford to Southend road.' I know the road. It was near a pink Morris Minor at a public house. That rang a bell because I'd seen it. It was very visible and there was once a combine on the other side of the road. He didn't tell me what the matter was with the vehicle, but he said it was a beige Passat and the keys were under the seat." "I left Meadow Cottage to go to Brian Wilson's at Drake (?) Corner near Sudbury because Mick wanted a JCB, to keep it there all the time. I got there and I didn't speak to Brian, who was out. I spoke to his father and said, 'Brian didn't do any more plant,' that's hiring or selling. So it came to nothing and I went back the way I'd come, down the Bures road, Sudbury to Colchester area.

I turned off and went through Wardingham(?) and Fordham, then onto the A12 and on the A12 to Chelmsford. I turned off onto the A130 until I came to the pink Morris Minor at the pub. I saw the Passat. It was right outside the pub. I pulled in front of it, got the rack down, found keys, unlocked the steering and winched the Passat up and tied it down by its wheel. I tried to ring Darren Nicholls but I didn't get through and got static. I just hung up. I know it says on the telephone papers," meaning the schedule, "that there were two calls, but I only made one and I didn't get through." He was asked, why ring? He said, "I rang to tell Darren I'd got the vehicle." He was asked about what contact there was between Mick and himself that afternoon. He said Mick rang him to ask the directions to get to Dennis's to pick the trailer up.

He thought when Mick did that he was in the (inaudible) area or the Rettendon area. He said he had already given Mick directions how to get there when he went to Aingers Green that day. That was about four o'clock. He said that at about 18.59 he turned round at the Wheatsheaf and came back the way he had come and crossed the central reservation. He proceeded to the yard at Barham. He could not put the Passat in the workshop because he had a six-wheeler in there, so he put it outside. He actually looked at the Passat at the weekend to see what was wrong. He pushed it off the trailer and started it and realised there was no drive; it was automatic. He started it in forward gear to check the gear box oil. He realised there was no oil in the transmission. He used the dipstick and topped up the oil to the correct level, which takes ten minutes to wait for it to settle down. He road tested it and took it through the gears manually.

Second gear slipped sometimes. On Monday or Tuesday he rang Darren, told him what he had done, and told him that the gear box was no good because it slipped in second gear. "I rang him and told him the gear box basically had got a problem." Then he said, "Darren said he was not that bothered but he did ask me if I could lose the vehicle and he'd claim on his insurance. I said it was uneconomical to repair because automatic gear boxes are expensive." "I think it might be the next day or the day after that that I called to John O'Connor and I actually gave the vehicle to him because he could use it for stock cars. I told him that I didn't want any comeback on me. The delay between me bringing the vehicle back to the yard and giving it to Mr O'Connor was about a week. The Passat had been sitting in my yard for a week. I didn't know or ask what Mr O'Connor actually did with the vehicle. There is a crusher at Sacker's in Claydon, which is about a mile and a half by road from me.

There was nothing to prevent me having the vehicle crushed there. I've taken lorries and other things there. The weighbridge has to put down a registration number and you sign a receipt. You just put any name, if you want to. You can put any number down, but we use each other's names. You have to have a licence to take scrap to a tip and I hadn't got a licence." Mr Lederman then put to him the suggestion that he cold-bloodedly killed three men, the victims in this case, and asked if he followed the suggestion. Mr Whomes said, "I couldn't cold-bloodedly kill anybody. I couldn't kill a sparrow. Anybody who knows me knows I'm not capable of it. I don't care what the prosecution say." He said heed never known Tucker or Rolfe before. He had seen Tate in prison but he had not seen him since the day Tate was stabbed in Hollesley Bay, waiting for a bus to take to High Point. He denied being involved in a drug supplying arrangement with Steele, Nicholls and Corry.

He said, "I deny every bit of evidence or any suggestion I'm involved in drugs and murder." As to the suggestion that the Range Rover got its back axle stuck on wood on the beach, he said, "It didn't happen. I know the Range Rover inside out and I'd like to know what it was that Nicholls was talking about." He said he did not put up any money for some duff cannabis deal. "It's rubbish. I wouldn't put money into duff drugs or drugs at all. When I was working at a nightclub in Stowmarket, I called the police. There was a time when a girl was frothing at the mouth because she'd taken drugs in the toilet and I was worried sick and I called an ambulance." He said, "I did go to Ostend and that was to pick up money for Darren Nicholls."

Members of the jury, that was his evidence in chief. I will remind you of some of the cross-examination. Mr Whomes said that, as a result of being in prison, he would say he was not so friendly with Tate but he did become very friendly with Steele. "Steele has a number of talents, some of which I share, some he has that I do not have. I would say he was a forceful man, maybe a bit of a persuasive man." He was asked if Steele sometimes carried him along with things, after which he thought, "Why did I do that?" His answer was, "In taking the money back," meaning from Ostend, "yes, I was stupid to do it." He would not say he did a lot of things for Steele. He took the trailer to be galvanised. He lent him the Dexter tractor. He cleared the site using the JCB and also went to the look if he could get another JCB for him. When his friend Gordon Stevens's boat was in trouble, he helped.

He said he met Gordon Stevens through Steele. He had not seen or had any contact with Gordon Stevens since his arrest. He said he had worked fairly closely with Steele in preparing their defence. He said, "Yes, you could say that." Whomes said that he, Whomes, was calm in a crisis and he would definitely say that. While others might lose their heads, he remained cool but not cold. He said Steele paid him for the works he did for him but not always. He did not pay him for the galvanising. Whomes said he had just one trailer, the transport trailer for one vehicle, but he also had the boat trailer for the Mariah. He said he chose the place for the galvanising of the RIB's trailer. As to work from August 1995 to December 1995 for Steele, he said it was mainly at Meadow Cottage and did not start until the 2nd December, which was the first time he was there with the JCB. He said in the same period, August to December, Steele used to drive a Ford six-wheeler on the dock for four to five hours a day perhaps, but only for about four to five days' work in that time. Steele had done one repair in the yard.

The soakaway was blocked and he changed the corner of the building. They are invoices for that. Apart from that, no other work was done by us, the one for the other, apart from Steele making the bushes. He never used to charge me. There were also shackles and new hooks. There were ten lots of bushes in that time, August to December. As to socialising, he said there were two times they went to a Chinese restaurant in Colchester. Whomes was round at Steele's house on Boxing Day. That was all that sprang to mind. Mick and Jackie had been to his house in that period, just dropping in four or five times, and there would be four or five times down on the beach, but no other socialising. A time when he dropped in quite a lot was when Mick was doing the consul for the RIB, which involved him in the work. He went once or twice a week. He and Steele were not involved in any business together.

As to how he got on with Nicholls in prison, he said, "Not too bad, but he was the sort of person who chatters and talks a lot. He tells you what rows he has had with his wife and he was always on about that. He was more into motorbikes than cars. He did mention he had a car for sale for quite some time." He said he collected the winnebago for Nicholls and charged him £50 or £60 for going to the west country to pick it up and get it moving. That was August or September sometime and it was he who diagnosed the problem, which was the injectors. "No other work springs to mind and he didn't do any work for me." As to socialising between them, once on the beach on a summer's day and that was it in the period. Apart from December time, he had seen Nicholls not very frequently from August to December.

Darren would be on the phone to him. As to seeing him, he did not think he did until they started work at Meadow Cottage. From the 2nd to the end of December he had seen him quite frequently -- two, three or four times a week, he would guess. Their wives first met at a nightclub in Stowmarket in Christmas 1993. "Gail and I met Darren and Rachel and two other relatives of Rachel when we went down to the club. I'm the manager and doorman of the club, not just the doorman." "I didn't know Tony Tucker. I'm a very expert welder and have done it since I was 12 or 13. I pride myself on my ability to weld. My occupation is my hobby." He said, "I concentrate on lorries." "I had no contact with Tony Tucker at any stage. After Tate's release in 1994 I had no contact or telephone contact with him. There was no problem at all between me and Tate. Tate got on really well with my brother, Johnny, but Johnny took a dislike to Tate once he went to High Point Prison.

I wasn't aware from Mick Steele that he had any regular contact with Tate. He didn't mention, that I can remember, any contact with Tate after Tate's release. In November 1994 I heard from Mick that Tate had been shot. As for the 1st November 1995, which would be the day after Tate's release, Steele did not mention Tate in conversation, not really. He may have done, but I didn't take no notice. Tate was no part of my life, so why would I take any notice? I was never present when there was a phone call between Steele and Tate that I can remember. After the murders there was conversation. It was in everybody's talk. We never got into conversation between Steele and I when Tate was shot and killed, " but he said Mick said something about Nipper as to who had done it. Then he was asked some questions about the telephone schedule, if you would have 4.2 and the first 17 pages. Go to page 2. He was asked about lines 45, 49, 52 and 53 and he could not say what they were about. He said Steele never spoke him shortly and never asked him go to a telephone kiosk.

He said, "There was nothing I could say to him that would cause him to telephone Tucker." He looked at line 54, Steele to Tucker, and said, "That was just a conversation." He looked at 66, 67, 68 and 69, Steele to him, and said, "They were just a few seconds. I don't recall whether I got through." Call 66 was for one minute 54 seconds and he said, "It was obvious we were not together at the same place at the time. 71 is me calling and I'm not at home. 72 is Steele calling me. I'm probably not at home and could be at the dock. I've no idea why he wanted to contact me. It could be anything. 73 to 79 were not calls from wives and children. They were me and Steele but I've no idea what the purpose was." He was asked about 217, 218, 222 and 223. He said he had no idea what they were about. He was asked about 241 at page 7, which is a call from Steele to Tucker, not his call at all. He said he could not think of any business Steele had with Tucker. 365, he was asked about, on page 11, another Steele to Tucker, and he gave the same reply, "I can't recall.

There is nothing to make Steele call Tucker. He was asked about 398 and 399 and 400 on page 12. He said, "Steele never discussed any dealing he had with Tucker with me." He was asked about 405 to 410, the calls between him and Steele in September. He said, "The calls could be social or to do with work. They were certainly nothing to do with drugs. I don't remember if I was seeing Nicholls in the month of September. Steele didn't mention any dealing he had with Nicholls that I can remember. There was wiring at the Brightlingsea unit, but nothing else. Steele never discussed with me, not at any time prior to the arrest, Nicholls dealing with drugs." Whomes said as far as he was concerned he and Steele had regular contact, were good friends and would do anything legal to help each other out. "Throughout all the period, August to December, I didn't ever hear from Steele about Nicholls's drug dealing. He may have mentioned it but I wouldn't take any notice. Steele never mentioned Nicholls's business to me.

As I understood it, Nicholls was an electrician. When the papers in this case were served, it didn't surprise me that Nicholls was a drug dealer because he was dealing in prison at Hollesley Bay when I was there. After the murders, Steele never said that Nicholls was active in drugs. There was no discussion about Nicholls's activities in December or January right up to May 1996." He said, "When I knew the men had been killed, it upset me because you think you're never going to see them again. I never discussed with Steele how he felt about the killing of Tate, his good friend. There were discussions about general gossip. On the call on the 18th August Steele didn't mention that he was going abroad to meet John Stone. Darren never mentioned Amsterdam. On the 15th August the three calls from Darren Stone (sic), I don't know if he got through." Those were the calls from 103 to 105. He was asked about the call at 108 of the 15th August at 22.18. He said, "At 22.18 I phoned Steele's number for 44 seconds. I don't know if I spoke to Jackie Street. I don't remember the call, if I called or if Mick had rung to contact me." He was asked about the calls on the 16th August.

He said he had no idea what they were about. He did not know Darren Nicholls had been abroad. "From the 21st August," he said, "there was nothing we were doing together, Mick Steele, Corry and me, that springs to mind." He was asked why there were so many short length calls, such as ten, 12 or nine seconds. He said there was no specific reason but he did not like keeping on "because it cost us a lot. ' What are you up to?' or 'I'm coming over,' that's what I call a quick conversation in ten seconds or so. There was never an occasion when I had to ring a kiosk or I said a kiosk. I can't think when I last used a telephone box. Steele never expressed a fear of being overheard and he never told me he was being followed." He was asked about the call 171 on page 5 at 23.07 on the 21st August. He said, "That call was not saying Nicholls had gone abroad. The call at 19.33 on the 22nd August, 188, was me to his home." It was put to him was it a call saying Mick was off in the RIB, and he was not able to say.

The call at 182 at midnight and 31 minutes was him phoning Steele's mobile. He could not remember leaving a message on the mobile. If he does not answer, a voice says he is not obtainable and it switches off. He said if he hears a message coming down the phone which starts, "I'm sorry, the Vodaphone number --", once he hears the words, "I'm sorry," there is no point in continuing and he turns it off. That call, 183 at 03.31 on page 6, is from his mobile to Steele's mobile at 3.31 in the morning and he said he could only guess what it would be, working on the docks or the beach. "If I was there on the docks, Steele wouldn't be there." He was asked some questions about the 22nd and the 23rd August and he said, looking back, he was up at 6.26 on 172 and he was up the next day and he would doubt he had been home. As to the call on the 22nd at 19.33, 180, for one minute and 32 seconds, he said he could be speaking to Jackie or Mick or it could be Mick using his phone. He said that Mick had his own phone at 178, 179 and 185 and 186, calls at 17.56, 17.58 and 04.36, 4.36 in the morning.

He said, "That night wasn't a drug run in which I was involved." He was asked about calls in the third extract and said that the call at 14.13 on the 2nd October for 13 seconds was not him saying, "See you later." He was asked about the call on the 3rd October at 42 minutes past midnight and at three minutes past two to Steele's home. He said about the 2 am call, "I don't remember the call but I don't normally call him at two in the morning. People fear the worst when they have got elderly parents and I wouldn't do it without a reason." It was put to him that it was a call made because he was involved in unloading cannabis, putting it into Steele's mother's house and he said he had never been to Steele's mother's property. It was put to him that he had launched the boat and taken the trailer away and at a later time he had taken the trailer to meet Steele at Point Clear and to unload the boat and dispose of the cannabis. It was put to him that he motored round then to meet him at Felixstowe ferry.

He said, "That's not true. That's Nicholls's story." He was asked about the Range Rover getting stuck and he said, "It's not right that the Range Rover got stuck. Steele did mention he thought Nicholls was involved with Pat, but he never elaborated. He said that round about March or April time. He said Nicholls was involved with Pat in business but he didn't say what business. I don't know if he elaborated. I didn't pry into people's business. It doesn't interest me what business. If they said something about a motor I might be interested. Steele didn't say Nicholls was upset with Tate or frightened of Tate, that I can remember. He never said at any stage that Nicholls was scared stiff of Tate, not that I remember, and I would remember. I can't recall any such conversation." As to buying the boat, he said he handed over £3,000 in October 1995. He did not get a receipt. It was cash. He said, "The money came in part from our slush fund, apart from the cash for repairs.

Johnny kept the slush fund. I asked John when the proposition was put and he agreed. Johnny was more interested in diving at the time than me." He said, "It was the day before we went out on the boat on the 7th November that I first learnt that Corry had chipped in £3,000. Mick told me. I passed the comment to Peter and he said yes. He seemed keen, but not as keen as I was. We were all keen to go out in our collective boat. I handed my £3,000 to Mick at the yard. Johnny does building work. He had a slush fund. He used part of it. He does extraneous outside renovations.

He's the best and the fastest in a family of builders. I regarded myself as the owner of the boat when I was dealing with Mr Hill of Customs." He told you again how he helped to launch the boat and said that Mick had told him about the starvation of fuel before then, which could mean that the boat could not go at all. It could be that date, the 7th November, or earlier, he told you. "It was November at two or three in the afternoon that we put the boat in the water. The planned cruise would take beyond nightfall before we got back.

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