on the 7th December 1995, three men were found dead as they sat in a Range Rover in Workhouse Lane, in the village of Rettendon, Essex. All the men had been killed at close range by a shotgun in what police described as a Gangland hit. After numerous arrests, there was still no sign of anyone being charged with the murders. Six months later, three people were in custody. One of them decided to talk, if he went on the Witness Protection programme. His words convicted two men, who are still in prison now, and have always protested their innocence. This book tries to piece together the events leading up to the murders, and if the right men were found guilty.

The county of Essex has rolling arable farmland, Epping Forest, sleepy villages, busy market towns and secluded backwaters - a wide variety of settings for murder. This selection of crimes uncovers not only famous cases, but also previously unpublished dramatic and tragic tales. The accounts included here come from a time when murder was a capital offence, carrying the ultimate penalty for the perpetrator, and when the difference between a verdict of innocence or guilt rested on a single piece of evidence, or the skill of the barrister in defence. Linda Stratmann has used original trial transcripts, material from local and national archives, contemporary accounts and the memoirs of pathologists, police and those in the legal profession in the course of her extensive research into crimes that have shocked the county. The killings explored date from as far back as the eighteenth century when the smuggler 'Colchester Jack' shot a confederate in the stomach in a row over stolen goods. They also include the case of a nineteenth-century female poisoner from Clavering and the brutal murder of a taxi driver in 1943 by two US servicemen at Birch. Supported by contemporary illustrations, Essex Murders reveals that behind the county's peaceful facade lies a murky criminal heritage.

The history of Essex has a wicked side - episodes of murder and villany run through it. In this compelling book, Donnelley has selected a dozen of the most revealing and disturbing cases.

There have been many versions of who, why and how, regarding events which took place on the night of the 6th December 1995, in Rettendon, Essex. The death of three men is all that is certain. They were notorious, violent and professional criminals. And they died on a lonely and deserted farmers track. In the middle of nowhere, unarmed. These are the only elements of the event, which are universally accepted. Two men are serving life on scant evidence. The convicted proclaim their innocence, yet appeal has been denied, or manoeuvred from grasp. Conspiracy theories are rife. Several films and a few accounts have clawed their way into existence; to be portrayed as factual accounts of the event. Fact or fiction, perhaps no longer relevant in the unforgettable and alluring story about the untimely demise of the gentlemen in question. Pat Tate, Craig Rolfe and Tony Tucker. They are dead, somebody knows why and how. They aren't talking. The legend, perhaps best, now becomes a fable. Corporal William Handley served in the Falklands war. A member of the legendary 22 Special Air Service regiment. D Squadron, Mountain Troop. It is not a forever career. He can't do Civvy Street. He joins the Metropolitan Police. Perhaps they should have turned him away. Someone in Special Branch thinks otherwise. Bill's career is nothing out of the ordinary. No spectacular rise through the ranks. Just a steady bloke, eventually becoming a sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Department. Out of a uniform, but not really. Hollywood's in Romford, the first big door for Tony Tucker. Not long before the bright lights of Bas Vegas, a few miles along the Southend Arterial beckon. More sensibly referred to as Basildon by Essex Police. Tucker and Tate's organisation and muscle grows rapidly. Fuelled by steroids, ecstasy and fast easy money. Essex is partying, the Essex Boys are cashing in. The power struggles spill out onto the street. Eventually getting the attention of the serious organised crime team. Trouble is the Essex Boys are always one step ahead. They're learning fast, got inside help. No one has the bottle to break ranks, give evidence. They pair have earned the right to step back from front line work. Not going down for a large possession, when there are so many mules to do the work for them. Eventually, if you push hard enough. There's going to be collateral. Any firefight, it's a given. The wrong person will go down, an innocent. It had all gone too far. They didn't care. They were too busy looking at the next big bit of work. This time they were helping themselves to someone else's prize. They had their eye off the ball. It was just a quick look, then on to dinner.

Blood-soaked corpses and the faces of three teenagers poisoned by Ecstasy are the images that flash through Bernard O'Mahoney's mind when he closes his eyes and recalls his past. In this book, he presents the scene of the murders and relives the bloody encounters that marked his time as a gang member.

The Sunday Times bestseller and the definitive story behind the ITV factual drama White House Farm, about the horrific killings that took place in 1985. On 7 August 1985, Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and her two young sons Nicholas and Daniel were discovered shot to death at White House Farm in Essex. The murder weapon was found on Sheila's body, a bible lay at her side. All the windows and doors of the farmhouse were secure, and the Bambers' son, 24-year-old Jeremy, had alerted police after apparently receiving a phone call from his father, who told him Sheila had 'gone berserk' with the gun. It seemed a straightforward case of murder-suicide, but a dramatic turn of events was to disprove the police's theory. In October 1986, Jeremy Bamber was convicted of killing his entire family in order to inherit his parents' substantial estates. He has always maintained his innocence. Drawing on interviews and correspondence with many of those closely connected to the events – including Jeremy Bamber – and a wealth of previously unpublished documentation, Carol Ann Lee brings astonishing clarity to a complex and emotive case. She describes the years of rising tension in the family that culminated in the murders, and provides clear insight into the background of each individual and their relationships within the family unit. Scrupulously fair in its analysis, The Murders at White House Farm is an absorbing portrait of a family, a time and a place, and a gripping account of one of Britain's most notorious crimes.

Two films and numerous books have attempted to tell the shocking story of two of Britain's most ruthless gangs. For 20 years, the Essex Boys firm and their successors, the New Generation, controlled a lucrative drugs empire in Essex and throughout the south east of England by using intimidation, gratuitous violence and murder. Rampaging through the streets and clubland, they destroyed anything and anybody that dared to get in their way. Eventually torn apart by greed and paranoia, the gang members became victims of their own vile trade and hate-filled actions. Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe were all blasted repeatedly with a shotgun as they sat in their Range Rover down a remote farm track. Dean Boshell was lured to allotments, then beaten and shot execution-style three times through the head. Others, such as Darren Nicholls and Damon Alvin, turned Super Grass and disappeared into the witness protection scheme never to be seen again, while three other men are in prison serving life sentences. Steve `Nipper` Ellis is the last man standing, the only member to have survived the bloody reign of both gangs. In Essex Boy, he tells his shocking story for the first time, and reveals just how close he came to being both murderer and murder victim.