Document Sent to John Whomes - Re O'Mahoney as Rettendon Murder Suspect 1996
A document sent to John Whomes

Rettendon the undisclosed evidence. Page 1 2

When you consider O'Mahoneys violent history, his all consuming desire to "settle scores" with anybody who crosses his path and his self confessed state of mind at that time, he cannot and should not,have been disregarded as a serious suspect. We know through Police computer print cuts he was a suspect, yet the Police never once interviewed him on record. The same amount of damaging evidence glares at him in the Leah Betts case, and again we know he was a suspect. In the second part of this document, we will highlight events after the murders which catapulted O'Mahoney from suspect to star witness.

THE RETTENDON ENQUIRY

The Police considered O'Mahoney a suspect from the moment the Rettendon murders were discovered. On page 179 of his book he describes his partner Debra, being met at school with their children by Detectives and being taken away. He also describes being met off the train from London, ironically without prompting from the Police, he offers up the sports bag he is carrying to be searched.("I had a bag with me.I opened it and said,'Do you want to search it ?"He said,'No." How would O'Mahoney know at such an early stage, the significance of a sports bag or hold all? He claims he spent the day walking around London in "a daze". From what we know of O'Mahoney, this is nonsense. Where in London was he and was he alone? These questions and others such as did you travel to London the night before, (i.e night of the murders) because he was certainly there early the next day, have never been put to him and should have been.

The very next day after the trios bodies were discovered D.I Brian Storey charged two of Leah's friends with supplying her. Tucker was dead, O'Mahoney , the suspect they had never questioned,had spoken to the press, the Police knew he would be under threat from Tuckers associates (as we know he had already been threatened by Tucker) and so its seems they decided to "groom him" for their forthcoming high profile trial,in the hope he would help them,rather than put the evidence they had against him,to him. On December 12th 1995, O'Mahoney's rivals (see page 185) took over the door at Raquels and for a man who professed to walking out "of that way of life", O'Mahoney acted oddly. He went to the Club and threatened the Door staff with a knife effectively "putting them out". Their Company withdrew two days later. O'Mahoney's old door staff were reinstated. This goes totally against the grain of a man who claims he gave Raquels up to escape a way of life laced with criminal activity. Further evidence of his desire to hang on to his lucrative business takes place on January 17th 1996 (page 186) when he appears before Basildon Council to Appeal against their decision to revoke his door licence. On January 19th 1996 O'Mahoney loses his appeal.

He claims he didn't care, but he rang Dave Britt an Environmental Health Officer on Basildon Council and was very abusive, threatening to "take the matter further". O'Mahoney had no visible income and an expensive house to pay for.Tucker his first hurdle,had now been taken out of the situation.Still O'Mahoney could do nothing.Despite his efforts to sway the Council he realised he was losing his grip on the lucrative Raquels Club. Fate finally took a hand and the Club closed through lack of popularity following the bad publicity over Leah and the Rettendon murders. During December and January the Police continued to warn O'Mahoney his life was in danger .(see page!76) Was this a ruse to put pressure on O'Mahoney ? We know that Essex Police are capable of setting up the most elaborate tricks to scare potential witnesses into divulging information.Maybe the Police thought if they squeezed O'Mahoney enough,he would go to them for help,they would then ask him to scratch their back. On January 9th 1998 O'Mahoney attacked a man named Robert Chiltern who works for a Company called "Eclipse".

They have a house maintenance contract with Basildon Council. (01268 416610) O'Mahoney claims Chiltern (an ex friend of Tate's) was saying a group of London Doormen had put a £10.000 contract out on him. O'Mahoney as per usual, ( except of course,in the case of the Rettendon trio,he claims) goes on the offensive. His "new way of life" looking transparently thin by the second. On January 16th 1996 D.C.I Shed seizes the Packman/Betts tape from Gary Jones at the news of the World.[Now with the Daily Mirror .0800 282 591] January 22nd 1996. An unidentified man turns up at Steven Packman's home in Pound Lane, Laindon, Basildon, Essex and "advises" Packman to keep O'Mahoney out of any proceedings. At his trial Packman claimed the man threatened to "burn down his house and break his legs". It does sound like the kind of dialogue O'Mahoney uses when "advising people." Steven Smith, Packmans Co-accused, told Norwich Crown Court, Daily Star,Wednesday,December llth 1996.page 9. "He was scared of the bouncer, Bernie ,who he heard was a friend of the notorious Kray twins. Smith said he 'was as frightened of him as he was of Mike Tyson.' He added, "he was known for being nasty".

O'Mahoney was never questioned about any of these allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice.The Police it seems, were busy bending over backwards to accommodate him. January 25th 1996 O'Mahoney meets Brian Storey at Maldon Police station, we do not know what is discussed,but again no statement or records are made. January 30th 1996, O'Mahoney finally makes his statement.[a first for him in 36 years of crime,why ?] (attached) What is absolutely incredible,is the fact O'Mahoney never names or implicates the drug dealers in Raquels. He actually confesses to having lied to a reporter earlier,by saying he had never even heard of Mark Murray,[ the dealer who he admits in his book,he and Tucker had an arrangement with".] O'Mahoney also confesses to receiving £500 per week from Murray as "a drink" (page 83) O'Mahoney must have refused to give evidence against his associates,as he would have had to implicate himself and Tucker. Instead, he fingers Packman,but he is acquitted. O'Mahoney goes on to give a sanitised version of his activities and involvement with drugs in his book.

The officer who took O'Mahoney's statement, D.I Storey hadn't taken such an active role with any of the other witnesses. Why did he not ask O'Mahoney about Murray on record, why was he so keen to allow O'Mahoney to escape prosecution? Did the attitude he adopted with O'Mahoney continue when he took the reigns of the Rettendon enquiry? Its painfully clear O'Mahoneys evidence had only one purpose, to convict Packman, the most vulnerable person of all those involved. The Betts enquiry was a weight on Storey's shoulders, everyone was watching,he needed a result at any price. Thats why he led O'Mahoney through such a turbulent time, that is why he dared not to even suggest to O'Mahoney, he was responsible, or played a part in either crime. In the Guardian, Friday December 13th 96.page 11, Detective Sergeant Nichol said that "in the early stages of the Leah inquiry there was information which led Police to suspect that O'Mahoney might also have been involved in drug dealing at Raquels". But he said "further inquiries failed to reveal any evidence of that and no charges were ever brought".

In the East Anglian Daily Times, Thursday December 12th 96, Mr O'Mahoney said he was well aware that drug dealing went on in the Club, but he said he had no involvement in drug dealing and had never been questioned in relation to Leah's death. Proof if ever any was needed, O'Mahoney was suspected, O'Mahoney did at least know all about the drugs in Raquels and O'Mahoney was never questioned once by any of the 35 officers who spent twelve months "seeking the truth". Detective Sergeant Nichol should explain what "Further inquiries" cleared O'Mahoney, if O'Mahoney was never even questioned. On February 12th 1996, Sue Woods, one of the ex promoters at Raquels and girlfriend of O'Mahoneys best friend Gavin was questioned about O'Mahoney and the Rettendon murders at her office FAB Productions. (Woods was also a very good friend of Tucker and his 'Wife' Anna Whitehead.) On February 13th 1996, O'Mahoney claims he went to Workhouse Lane to see where his friends died and he found a live shotgun cartridge. First of all we only have O'Mahoneys word he found the cartridge on this day, secondly, we don't even know if he did find the cartridge, thirdly, we know O'Mahoney had visited the scene half a dozen times prior to this,but after the crime was committed.

February 15th 1996, Michael Bowman, the man who had gone to Raquels with Tucker,'after O'Mahoney' was arrested for possessing a machine gun which was obtained for Tucker and Tate who wanted it to "kill somebody". Ian Hepburn (0800 181 790), a Sun Journalist,wrote in the paper that day " Police believed the killer of the trio, travelled with them, then got out and picked up the weapon hidden nearby while pretending to open a gate." What O'Mahoney did when he read this is extraordinary, he telephoned Ian Hepburn and told him he needed an independent witness to "see over" a matter he was going to report to the Police. O'Mahoney told Hepburn he had been to see where his friends had died and whilst standing at the gate, had disturbed the grass and undergrowth and found a live shotgun cartridge. He said he "picked it up without thinking, panicked when he realised his finger prints would be on it,so had thrown it into an adjacent field by a large Oak Tree.

But he wasn't sure,exactly where. He told Hepburn,if it was found now,he may be implicated, would Hepburn contact the Police, report what he had been told and then meet O'Mahoney with the Police? Hepburn agreed. O'Mahoney later told the Police he thought" the cartridge may have been orange, he has told others since that it was blue. He told the police it hadn't been fired, "it was new, although it had just started to form a thin film of light rust", suggesting it must have been there "about a month or so". The Police should have asked O'Mahoney, what was he doing, or what was he looking for,on the five or six occasions he visited the remote farm track after the murders. He only admitted doing so after he was warned locals had taken the registration numbers of vehicles visiting the track. If he found the cartridge why couldn't he show the Police exactly where he had thrown it? O'Mahoney is an intelligent man, he knew he would need an independent witness to share his version of events,which is why he roped Hepburn in.

We only have O'Mahoneys word he found the cartridge on the 13th February 1996. Is it possible it was lost on the day of the murder? Were O'Mahoneys visits to the scene made in the hope he could recover the "lost" live cartridge? Did Bowman's arrest and Hepburns report, panic O'Mahoney into taking action ? He knew there was a link between him and Bowman, he read the Police believed they knew firearms (and one can surmise, cartridges) had been hidden at the scene in wait for the victims.O'Mahoney says he found the cartridge at the foot of the gate where he read Police believed the weapons were hidden. If O'Mahoney had lost a cartridge with his fingerprints on and he felt the Police had made a step in his direction, this action and this action alone would have covered him if the cartridge was recovered. February 16th 1996, O'Mahoney meets Hepburn, D.C Bob Chappel and D.C Dean Sandford at the murder scene. O'Mahoney claims it was dark when they arrived, he told the Police what he had told Hepburn and they said they would "look for it tomorrow." March 1st 1996, O'Mahoney is questioned by Sandford and Chapel at South Woodham Ferrers Police Station from 09.10am until 11.15am.

That night he goes to Club Art in Southend. This Club was run by Tucker. O'Mahoney tells "Taz" the Head doorman and Tuckers friend,the Police think he may be responsible, he wants Taz and Tuckers associates to know he didn't do it. Three months after the event, this may seem a little belated, had Police interest,the press reports and the cartridge revelation made O'Mahoney panic into thinking the net was closing in on him March 7th 1996. A man named Danny Marlow whom O'Mahoney admits to having threatened over a debt is murdered in Leicester. O'Mahoney had been to his home some months earlier and to his place of work looking for him. (Somebody has been charged with this murder) May 1st 1996. O'Mahoney is once more questioned at South Woodham Ferrers Police Station. O'Mahoney admits he asked the detectives (Chapel and Sandford) if they had found the cartridge and they tell him they had not got around to looking for it properly. "We had a quick look" they add and as far as O'Mahoney was concerned, the subject was closed. On this occasion two detectives from Leicester were also at the Police Station and they questioned him about the murder of Danny Marlow.

O'Mahoney was at South Woodham Ferrers Police station from Mid-day until 3pm. The Leicestershire Officer's then went to O'Mahoneys home to seize some paperwork relating to Danny Marlows debt.. May 12th 1996. Whomes and Steele arrested. May 15th 1996. John Marshall, Tate's ex-partner goes missing. O'Mahoney too knew Marshall,he occasionally recovered debts (in the only way he knew how) for Marshall, (see GO. "Cash on Demand" article re: O'Mahoney) What is odd about the Marshall murder, is the fact Detective Supt Gamble of Basildon Police was given the task of investigating it, yet, the Police are adamant there is no link between it and the Rettendon killings. It is accepted Marshall was murdered in Kent and he was found in a his abandoned Range Rover in Sydenham, South East London. Why would Basildon Police be asked to investigate a crime committed in Kent if there was no link ? The Police,despite not solving the case,are adamant that Marshall was not involved in drugs. We have learned that this is either as a result of poor Police work,or a deliberate attempt to cover up the truth.

Marshall was heavily involved in drugs and he traded on occasion, with his close, life long friend and business partner,Pat Tate. Gary Russo, another man who went into business with Marshall selling cars, quit the partnership when he learned of Marshalls drug dealing activities. We have learned from affidavits filed in a civil case involving Mr Russo, both O'Mahoney and Russo were questioned by Detectives about the Marshall murder. It goes without saying, both "interviews" were informal. Gary Russo can be contacted at Essex Ford, Car Sales, Cherrydown, Basildon, Essex, where he works as a car salesperson.(01268 522744) Basildon Evening Echo,Friday May 24th 1996,page 8. Detective Superintendent Mike Gamble appears in the paper appealing for information about a Grey HEAD Sports bag missing from Mr Marshalls car.

This Sports bag was never found,the motive for taking it never established.Marshalls murder certainly wasn't a Robbery gone wrong.Marshall had left £5000 in cash on the dashboard which his killers chose to ignore.Nearly £2000 in cash was left on the victims at Rettendon.What did Marshall have in that bag that was more valuable than £5000 in ready cash ? Could it have been the proceeds of a deal involving the Rettendon trio ? The evidence was there in the back of the Range Rover at Rettendon.Police found an empty,identical HEAD Sports bag discarded in the boot.Whatever it had contained,was gone.We doubt if the Police tested it for traces of drugs.they knew what they may have found and the link between Rettendon and Marshall would have been forged,they would have had to let Steele and Whomes go.

Mark Hall,a Doorman who worked for O'Mahoney and Tucker at Raquels,used to work for Parcel force delivering packages and parcels. Hall couldn't resist taking items for himself or to sell to his fellow Doormen.One such haul was a consignment of Sports bags which were sold on and distributed through the Door staff at Raquels. Tucker , 0'Mahoney, Marshall and Rolfe all had at least one.On January 09th 1996,in a joint operation between Essex Police and the internal Parcel force Security Department,Hall was arrested.At his home they found stolen parcels and Cocaine and Cannabis which Hall claimed was for his personal use.He was successfully prosecuted by Parcel force but "surprisingly" not by the Essex Police.We do not know when,exactly,but we are told Hall arranged to meet O'Mahoney in the weeks after his arrest at a car park in Pitsea.Essex.We do not know what the two discussed.

A feature linking O'Mahoney and Marshalls murder never pursued by the Police , (as far as we know) is the fact Marshalls Range Rover,with his body still inside,was dumped in Roundhill.Upper Sydenham,S.E.London.This is less than one mile from O'Mahoneys London Flat in Cowden Street,London S.E,6. (number not known.) This link emphasises the concern about O'Mahoneys movements on the night of the Rettendon murders and the day the bodies were found.O'Mahoney admits to being in London early in the morning on the day the Rettendon trio were found.He admits he spent "the whole day walking around London aimlessly" which seems unlikely at best.We dont know where he spent the night of the murders,nor do we know if he had spent any time with Marshall in the area his body was found and the area O'Mahoney supposedly spends a lot of time, wandering aimlessly'. We also know O'Mahoney had a Sports bag with him when the Police met him off the Train on the day the Rettendon murders were discovered.The first thing O'Mahoney did when the Police walked up to him was to offer the Sports bag to the Detectives to be searched.WHY ?

We can only speculate because the Police chose not to investigate,but we know O'Mahoney was asked by Tucker and Tate to act as a back up driver in a big drug deal Robbery,(see page )We only have O'Mahoneys word that he turned their offer down.We know from his track record that it was an unusual decision for O'Mahoney to take,particulary as he was floundering financially at that time.We know from O'Mahoney their Robbery was both successful and lucrative,(see page ) This was obviously not the alleged deal Nicholls talks of in his 'Dud Cannabis' evidence.We know the Rettendon trio were threatening to shoot O'Mahoney,we know in turn,he was neither concerned or the type of man one should threaten.We know he was in Rettendon within thirty minutes of the murders being commited.We know none of these men,who were deeply paranoid kept anything involving drugs in their homes.(see P.C. HYLANDS statement.page 1 ."he,(0'Mahoney) replied,"six times you lot have searched my house.theres nothing there.") Could Tates loyal and trusted friend John Marshall have held part, or all of the heist from the drug robbery, to prevent the Police.who were crawling all over the trio and O'Mahoney following Leahs death,from finding it ?

Part,all,or none of that heist may have been recovered by the killer(s) at Rettendon from the bag found in their Range Rover.(We only know it was empty) Fearing for his own safety,Marshall may have called a meeting to return the trios ill gotten gains,but Marshall would have known too much and he was silenced when he arrived with the Sports bag containing the goods."Evening Echo 25th of April 1997.p.20."Drugs Author living in fear" O'Mahoney confesses he "is living in fear and states,'! couldn't stay in Basildon or anywhere else in Essex for that matter."He goes on to say there are people who would like to see the back of him because of what he had said and done.He also lies about his whereabouts, saying he is living near Portsmouth.Why.one and a half years after the deaths of the Rettendon trio.does O'Mahoney clearly believe there are people who want to see him dead ? We know he is not concerned about Tuckers friends.he went to see them after the murders at the Southend Nightclub,Club Art.We know.nobody but the Rettendon trio had a problem with O'Mahoney ,unless there was something he hadnt disclosed in his book.ls it possible O'Mahoney did take up Tucker and Tates offer to take part in the Robbery ? Is that why he is in fear,is that why he was given armed Police protection ? (see page )

The defence at Steele and Whomes trial claimed Tate had upset a syndicate for not handing over their full share from a Cocaine deal worth thousands of pounds.We have learned 0'Mahoney,a man without any visible income at the time,paid £15000 to £20,000 off his Mortgage in cash in April 1996. There were other links with Kent and South East London. Kenneth Noye,Tates friend is reported to have lost several thousand pounds because of a deal that 'went wrong' involving the Rettendon trio.Noye lived in Kent,Marshall knew him.O'Mahoney had met Noye through his Kray associates at a charity function in Woodford,Essex.Micky Bowman lived in Bromley Kent.two or three miles from O'Mahoneys Cowden street flat.Why was he at Raquels three weeks before the murders apparently backing Tucker and Tate against O'Mahoney ? Bowman,we know, was arrested at his home in Bromley.Yet he was charged by Essex Police and appeared before Basildon Magistrates for possessing a machinse gun.Surely,if there is no link,this was a matter for Kent Police ? Is this why Basildon Police also investigated Marshalls murder which took place in Kent ? The defence also claimed,'Nicholls had something to do with these killings,what it was we will probably never know.

And what his involvement was with this syndicate we shall never know." We do know weeks after the murders,somebody from O'Mahoneys native Birmingham contacted the Police and named Nicholls as the killer.We also know O'Mahoney was named as the killer in anonymous messages and at least one letter, to the Police. Both men had met at least once,at Tates bedside following the shooting by Ellis.lt was here Nicholls was ridiculed by Tate.the man we know O'Mahoney was growing to hate.We know from Ellis a plot was being hatched to lure him to the Hospital so Tate could shoot him.Nicholls must have listend to these people conspiring to lure a man to his death.We know from Tates Mother Marie,Tate was discussing the murder of Whittaker,0'Mahoney claims p. of his book,Tucker told him,'We wont be getting anymore trouble from Mr Whittaker.'Did Nicholls hear this being repeated at the Hospital,because .some may say ironically,he testified in Court,Steeles first words to him after the murders were,"We wont be getting anymore trouble from those three." In The Guardian,March 7th 1996,John Mullins wrote.'some Detectives believe the gunman was in the Range Rover with his victims,others think he stepped out of the shadows after the Range Rovers occupants were lured to Workhouse Lane,others still favour a hybrid,the gunman was indeed waiting,but the man who ordered the murders had hired a professional hitman and arrived with the others in the back seat,a trusted colleague or friend.'

Again,this mirrors the evidence Nicholls gave,is it possible,he too reads the papers or the same Detectives who spoke to John Mullins aired their views to Nicholls ? The most worrying factors about all of this evidence is the fact neither the defendants or the Jury were allowed to consider it,the Police not only with held oral and written evidence,they failed to mention the fact a live shotgun cartridge,with the Fingerprints of a suspect other than the accused was at the murder scene and they hadnt bothered to look for it.Given the evidence we know,and we are sure there is more,the Jury should have been told about the cartridge and the man whose prints were on it.The "missing" or lost cartridge is a relevant, material, piece of evidence for the reasons we have outlined,but also because missing or mislaid cartridges were an issue the Jury were asked to consider and had "all" the evidence been made available to them,they may have reached a different verdict. "Scenes of crimes Officers Detective Inspector Hughes and Detective Constable Peter Bettis combed the area and made a note of all the evidence they collected.

However.the Officers disagreed on where one particular shotgun cartridge was found and despite hundreds of photographs being taken there is not one of a cartridge Detective Constable Bettis claims he recovered from the Range Rovers footwell.He admitted it may have accidentaly been kicked into the position he found it." With Police Officers playing football amongst the carnage with shotgun cartridges in the vehicle,is it beyond doubt,a live shotgun cartridge was dropped or mislaid by the killer(s),was overlooked by the Police and was ignored when it came to light as the fingerprints it bore would have destroyed the case against Whomes and Steele and destroyed the possibility of the Polices star witness appearing at the Betts trial ? Michael Steele and Jack Whomes were convicted of murder on far less evidence,O'Mahoney was not even formerly questioned.lnstead Essex Police and in particular.Detective Inspector Brian Storey,embraced him as their star witness in the Leah Betts trial,gave him armed Police protection and ensured any embarresing links between him.Betts and Rettendon,were severed.

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