The Murder of the Essex Boys: Blood and Betrayal

 Many of us will remember the news item of the three men found dead in the Range Rover down a snowy farm track in Essex one December morning in 1995.  It was particularly horrible because it was clear that it was an execution, not a road accident as one might have expected to hear on the snowy morning,  and the bodies were still in their seats, shot quickly one after another.   Two were in their 30s and one was in his mid 20s.   There were no clues as to who they were.  The police made an appeal for the identity of the victims via the reporters who had congregated at the site as nobody had come forward and surprisingly nobody came forward for a couple of days and nobody was reported missing.   They waited.  Eventually a young girl contacted the police and said that she thought her partner might be one of them but as he never told her what he was doing she wasn't sure.  It turned out he was one of the three and she was eventually to give a big clue as she remembered a name he had dropped in passing who he might be seeing that day: Mick the Pilot.  He was eventually one of the two convicted. 

The story is complicated and for someone like me who likes police investigations and detective work in real crime it is ideal viewing.  I have watched it twice now and in order to follow it have had to take notes.  There are so many people involved and so much history to it involving criminal gangs in Essex and London and reaching into Spain where, again, many of us will remember Ronnie Knight and other London criminals living.   The investigation takes us into Amsterdam and Ostend, boats, a small plane, and drugs. 

It was of course a drug gang murder as we were all told at the time, but the story is fascinating and there are many ins and outs and there are many who are still not convinced that the verdict of the two convicted was the correct one.   The conviction was made possible because a suspect turned supergrass in order to avoid conviction himself.  Clearly not a popular man with criminals.  Two police officers who were linked to the police informant were also suspended and investigated.  

A number of changes resulted in the use of undercover policing and police informants which exists to this day. 

Mobile phones were in their infancy at the time and the common one for those who had them was the Nokia used just for texts and calls.   Tracking mobile phone signals was unknown then and unused as a detectives tool.  However, the chief detective encouraged his team, young and old, to give all the ideas they could to convict the killers and a very young detective constable said that he thought that mobile phone signals could be tracked between masts.  This proved to be another major breakthrough in the convictions and,  of course, tracking mobile phones is now the major tool in all criminal investigations.  Then it was one unknown.  The police had suspects but they denied being in the area at the time and butter wouldn't melt in their mouths until the detectives questioning them said "well we know your mobile phones were in the area" and then suddenly they refused to answer any further questions. 

The death of Leah Betts also had some significance which many of us will again remember as the first death reported from taking ecstacy pills. She came from Essex.  Her father was a policeman.  She died three weeks before the murder of the Essex Boys.  Although never proven as directly linked to the murders it was a talking point at the time.   I am sure many of us will remember the name of Leah Betts.  I remember thinking that I would never touch an E tablet which at the time were the party drug of the moment and as easy to get as Smarties. 

Anyway, I think seeing the documentary twice is enough for the moment but I have my notes on those involved.  The Essex accents are also quite difficult to follow so note taking helped me and subtitles do not appear for all interviewed.  I have no idea why.    I would not wish to disagree with the police verdicts of the two convicted but I don't think anybody would fail to see that probably a lot more were involved.  If drug dealers and criminals do not get their money then threats follow and if threats still do not result in money then murder follows.  This is still the case.  Drive by shootings and murders and violence on doorsteps take place almost everyday in Britain, mostly drug related.   The overwhelming message from the friends of the three men who died in Essex was that before they got into drug crime they were ok.  Before that they were career criminals carrying out armed robberies, jewelry heists and bank robberies but prison and courts were the punishments to fear and avoid.  Drug crime changed it and it all became much more violent and nasty and dealt with "internally" by those involved.  This was a case of drug suppliers falling out with one another over money.  Things don't get any better and drug use and drug related crime has increased no end since 1995.  

The documentary is currently on Netflix.