IF the mythology surrounding the Essex Boys is to be believed, they were sophisticated gangsters, comparable to The Krays, heading an 80-strong firm and had connections to the celebrity world.
The truth couldn’t be any further away, according to former colleague Bernard O’Mahoney, now 66, who reveals the reality of the three drug dealers back in 1995 and the .
Police at The Essex Boys’ crime scene in Rettendon, Essex, back in 1995 Credit: News International
The Essex Boys, (L:R) Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe, became infamous Credit: PA
“Herein lies the problem,” he tells us. “Until they were shot, nobody had heard of them, not even in Basildon, yet, they were being compared to The Krays and mafia dons.
“The Krays were running nightclubs, slot machines and race track schemes, hitting people for money, while the Essex Boys were idiots in a nightclub doing absolutely zilch.”
Their has been moulded through countless documentaries and at least 14 feature films, including one starring Sean Bean, and a new movie out later this month.
Rise Of The Footsoldier: Retribution, out on August 28, is the seventh in the franchise, which has starred big names like Vinnie Jones, Tamer Hassan and Craig Fairbrass, and gives the Essex Boys’ story a dramatised make-over.
However, the final weeks of ill-fated , and was rather cinematic – before they were lured to Workhouse Lane, in Rettendon, for a “brutal gangland execution”, blasted to death by an assassin hidden in the bushes.
Bernard knew from working security at Basildon’s notorious nightclub Raquel’s, where the , and watched first-hand as their destructive behaviour ensured they would “never make it to the old folks’ home”.
He alleges a botched £120,000 weed deal from overseas, , the death of a teen and and a seasoned crook all contributed to their death, revealing all to The Sun.
Bernard says: “Tate was the worst of the lot, he was a bully, who picked on the wrong people. Within six months of knowing Tucker, he managed to get himself shot twice, the latter fatally.
“I’ve been a nuisance for 66 years and no one has ever shot me. It shows what bullies they were. They weren’t The Krays, they weren’t gangsters, they were absolute idiots.”
Bernard first met Tucker at Raquel’s in 1993 and watched him change dramatically after meeting his fellow Essex Boys – especially in their final weeks due to stressful events and drug use.
He recalls Tucker, 38, being a “squeaky clean” carpenter-by-trade without any convictions or arrests, who drove a Ford Grenada, before becoming a £40-a-night doorman and later setting up his own security firm.
In August 1994, Tucker met Rolfe, 26, and Tate, 37, through a mutual friend at a Southend cafe and the latter two “tried to impress each other, through bullying tactics”. Soon they were working together.
Rolfe was a violent cocaine addict, who was born in Holloway Prison, meanwhile Tate – then newly out of prison – was an 18-stone man mountain, who abused heroin, cocaine, cannabis and steroids.
The trio began dealing ecstasy at Raquel’s due to Tucker’s inroads there with Bernard, who ran security there.
Tate and Rolfe were the enforcers inside, simultaneously flooding the dancefloor with drugs, while also beating-up anyone trying to sell on their patch.
Bernard says: “They really were robbers and drug dealers. They coaxed people into the nightclub, slapped them across the face for dealing, punched them up and threw them out.
Craig Fairbrass in Rise of the Footsoldier: Retribution, which comes out on August 28 Credit: Signature Entertainment
Sean Bean playing Pat Tucker in the 2000s film The Essex Boys Credit: Alamy
“They kept the drugs too. They were bullies. That’s not a way to go about business in that world, you’ll hit the wrong guy and whoever he works for will be a lot more powerful.”
Their plans were derailed when, in November 2024, Tate threatened the family of , who shot him in the arm, leading to prison stints for them both.
Paula Jackson, Tate’s girlfriend, told The Terry Stone Connection: “His arm was like blown open, you could see all the tendons in there. It was awful.”
She claims he shot him through his toilet window, while he was sitting on the loo, with a “two-bob Smith and Weston, 200-year-old antique gun”.
Bernard O’Mahoney says the trio were ‘absolute idiots’ and ‘bullies’ Credit: Netflix
Inside of Raquel’s nightclub, where the Essex Boys peddled ecstasy Credit: Newsquest
While in hospital, police found Tate was concealing a handgun, a violation of his parole terms, meaning he was jailed until November 1995 – just weeks before his murder.
Upon his release, Tate and Tucker were spending nearly £1,000 a day on crack cocaine according to Bernard, who said: “They were out of their heads all the time.
“They were like zombies. Smoking that shit, then going to sleep, waking up and doing it again. They transformed into psychotic bullies, who couldn’t be reasoned with.
“They were doing absolutely zilch, a couple of idiots sat in the nightclub doing drugs all of the time. They never stepped in if there was a fight at Raquel’s.”
Tate’s drug-induced volatility was best highlighted by him beating up a pizza shop manager for using the wrong toppings and even threatening his mother.
Roughly three weeks before the killings, tragedy struck when , who was celebrating her 18th birthday at Raquel’s, died as a result of taking one of the gang’s ecstasy pills and drinking too much water.
The death was a massive story and front page news on most national newspapers.
Bernard recalls “the world’s media descended” with TV crews from the BBC, Sky News, ITV and Sweden surrounding Raquel’s. He says: “It was a drug dealer’s worst nightmare.
Tragic Leah Betts died five days after taking an ecstasy pill in Raquel’s on her 18th birthday Credit: PA:Press Association
One tablet from the same batch that led to the death of teen girl Leah Credit: PA:Press Association
“Tate was furious and yelled, ‘Get this f***ing sorted! This was the same weekend they did a dud cannabis deal. He was going off his head because everything was going wrong.
“I told him, ‘When the police come they’ll help us’ and he went f***ing mental, threatening, ‘You can’t f***ing talk to them.’ I told him I would and I did.”
Bernard unsuccessfully tried to source one of the tablets for police, much to the anger of Tate and Tucker, who began boasting to others that they would kill him.
“They started ringing people up, saying ‘I’m going to f***ing shoot him’,” he says. “I’d heard it all before by then and knew they didn’t have it in them.”
Despite dismissing the threat, it seems they had planned a hit as Bernard was summoned to a police station. Cops told him: “We have intelligence that you’re going to be shot. You need to take this seriously.”
Five hours later, unbeknown to Bernard – as he had hopped on a train with his family to get away – the Essex Boys were dead.
According to the bouncer, it all stemmed from missteps linked to Tucker and Tate’s plan to import drugs themselves.
When he was told about the plot, it was a shock to Bernard, who remarked to them: “F***ing hell, are you for real?”
The trio drove up to the gate and were ambushed by a shotgun wielding assassin Credit: Rex
Sun reporter Josh Saunders on Workhouse Lane with Peter Theobald, who found The Essex Boys Credit: Louis Wood
He added: “I wouldn’t have trusted going through a drive-thru with them, let alone them importing drugs.”
The Essex Boys raised £120,000 through a consortium of dangerous local criminals to pay the gang’s future and – who Tate first met in prison – to smuggle the drugs for them.
“But when the cannabis arrived from Amsterdam, much of it was dud cannabis,” Bernard says. “They were like, ‘This gear is sh*t’ and threatened telling him to get their money back.
“What Steele didn’t know was that around a third of the cannabis, £46,000-worth, was good gear. Tate and the Essex Boys sold this in secret.”
Bernard says Steele only found out upon getting the money back from the weed sellers. He had been duped. Yet Steele returned the full £120,000, which Tate held for another deal.
Bernard added: “Tate was fuming because the deal had gone wrong and they supplied s*** gear. So as well as keeping the £46,000 good bit, he told the investors that Steele didn’t get a refund for the money.
“So a lot of bad s*** going on between these two groups. Tate told one of the investors, ‘I’ll get Steel on his knees, if he doesn’t give me the money, I’ll shoot his f***ing head.”
The threat to kill him, ripping him off of the proceeds from the £48,000 of weed and withholding his part of the £120,000 were the three sleights that led to the Essex Boys’ killing, Bernard says.
Michael Steele served 27 years for the killings before his release in 2025 Credit: Rex Features
Jack Whomes spent 23 years behind bars until he was let out in 2021 Credit: Getty
Whomes and Steele conjured up a plan. They told the gang they would fly £1million-worth of cocaine onto a farmer’s field in the sleepy village of Rettendon for them to sell-on.
To ensure all issues were avoided they would do a dummy run – in reality, that night on Workhouse Lane, they would be assassinated.
True to form, Tate had no intention of playing fair. Bernard says: “They planned to bash up the guy who flew in the coke, take the coke and split it three ways.
“They were greedy, jumping for joy, thinking they would be millionaires. They even booked an 8pm meal to celebrate.”
That night, Steele met the trio at a Hungry Horse pub in Raleigh, got into their car and he directed them to the field. Upon reaching the farmer’s gate near the field, Steele got out to open it.
Bernard continues: “Whomes comes out of the hedges, leans into the car with the shotgun and bang, bang, bang. Goodnight dear.
“That was The Essex Boys finished, and Steele and Whomes finished too. ”
Whomes spent 23 years behind bars until he was released in 2021. Steele was let out just last year after serving 27 years. Both always maintained their innocence.
Bernard struggles to understand the enduring mythology surrounding the Essex Boys today, insisting the dramatised creations of them were “pure fiction, they didn’t exist”.
He adds: “In the films, they had beautiful girls and flashy cars. I assure you that wasn’t the case, they lived in council houses and drove average cars. Their myth is blown way out of proportion.”
As for the legacy of the Essex Boys, while visiting Retendon, a homeowner, who would only speak through her RingDoor claimed she “knew them personally”.
After apologising for her loss, tellingly, she stated: “No, no, no, don’t be sorry. The world is a much better place since they have gone.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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