Essex Boys murderer Michael Steele to be released from prison

A man convicted of the so-called Essex Boys murders will be released from prison on licence, the Parole Board has said.

Michael Steele was jailed in 1998 after drug dealers Craig Rolfe, Tony Tucker and Pat Tate were found shot dead in a Range Rover near Chelmsford three years earlier.

The 82-year-old has repeatedly denied perpetrating the murders.

The Parole Board said that following “progress made while in custody” and other evidence presented at the hearings, the panel was satisfied imprisonment was “no longer necessary for the protection of the public”.

Jack Whomes was also given a life sentence for the murders, but his prison term was reduced in 2018 and he was released in 2021.

The case soon became referred to as the Essex Boys murders, and became the subject of countless TV dramas, films, documentaries and books, which examined its links to other high profile homicides and the 1990s rave scene.

The Parole Board said it examined Steele’s application at hearings in May 2023, May, November and December last year, and also in January.

It said a representative for the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, was “party to the proceedings”.

“After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and the other evidence presented at the hearings, the panel was satisfied that imprisonment was no longer necessary for the protection of the public,” the Parole Board said.