RETTENDON 30 YEARS ON: When the man who told Sky documentary he 'ordered Essex Boys murders' unmasked himself and said he 'made it all up'

A MAN who told former Met Police detectives and the makers of the Sky Essex Murders documentary series that he ordered the Rettendon Range Rover murders and convicted killers Jack Whomes and Michael Steele were innocent, went on to admit he "made it all up."

Dave Cawston, 59, had his identity disguised (above) during the interview filmed for the third episode of the three-part series which was first broadcast in April 2023.

He told the producers and ex-detectives from private investigation firm TM-Eye that he paid £140,000 for a hit on Tony Tucker over cash he allegedly owed him from an armed robbery.

A short clip of the interview was shown during episode one of the series which aired on Saturday, April 15 2023 with more broadcast in the third and final episode.

UK News and Investigations reported that he had made the recorded confession to the documentary makers ahead of the series coming out, when he also asked to remain anonymous.

However, he later unmasked himself in an interview with Bernard O'Mahoney, and said it was all an elaborate scam.

Mr Cawston (above) was convicted in connection with a 1989 armed robbery that the former Met Detectives from TM-Eye now believe could be the real reason for the three drug dealers Pat Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26, being shot dead in a Range Rover in Rettendon on the night of December 6 1995.

Their bodies were found the morning in what became the country's most notorious gangland assassinations and was the subject of several movies.

Three years later Michael Steele, 83, (above left) and Jack Whomes, 63, (right) were convicted of the murders on the evidence of supergrass Darren Nicholls, who claimed to be their getaway driver after his arrest over a cannabis importation in May 1996.

There was no forensics linking Whomes and Steele to the murder scene, although mobile phone cell site evidence put them in the area at the time.

Mr Cawston was later released from the armed robbery sentence on appeal and he told the Sky documentary he wanted proceeds that Tucker had been asked to launder back, but he refused to pay up.

He told Mr O'Mahoney in the YouTube interview why he set up the sting after he discovered the former detectives were naming him on social media in connection with the armed robbery and their theory it was the real motive for the Essex Boys murders.

So he decided to "set them up" by making contact and claiming that it was him that ordered the late Brink's-Mat gangster Patsy "Bolt Eyes" Clark to have them killed over the debt, he said.

He said he was also disgruntled because he believed one of the former detectives was involved in the armed robbery investigation which sent him to prison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej-ex8SWNdU

During the Sky interview, filmed in a Waltham Abbey hotel, Mr Cawston said he paid £140,000 in a carrier bag to Patsy Clark to have Tony Tucker killed and Tate and Rolfe were collateral damage.

Asked by Mr O'Mahoney "how he felt" about killing them, Mr Cawston laughed and said: "I didn't do it. The whole thing is a joke. But it's not funny it is a serious business... another reason for making up this story that fitted to their narrative, baring in mind that they were involving me before I involved myself."

After filming the interview for Sky Mr Cawston contacted UK News and Investigations and he said he had confessed to arranging the murders on tape, but hinted at having information about much more serious international organised crime that was of "more significance."

He maintained his admission was true, proving paperwork which showed that he had made the same confession to an HMRC officer and Norfolk Police in 2011 when he claimed Whomes and Steele were innocent.

Although he was never arrested at the time of this earlier admission in connection with the Rettendon murders, it was one admission that triggered an armed siege after he also suggested he was "tooled up" with a gun.

The dramatic events centred around Mr Cawston's frustrations at not being taken seriously about his "revelations" to police about organised crime, including the Rettendon murders.

During the 36-hour siege, during which he said he would make Raul Moat "look like a fairy" he left paperwork on what he wanted to disclose for police before he was hit by a taser and arrested.

During the subsequent prosecution at Norwich Crown Court six months later in November 2011, when Mr Cawston admitted two counts of possessing an air pistol with intent to cause fear or violence, prosecuting, Nick Methold said Cawston had been frustrated over information he claimed to have on criminal issues.

Ian James, on behalf of Mr Cawston, said his client had wanted to help police, not thwart them.

He was jailed for three years.

Mr Cawston also sent to UK News and Investigations several emails and documents on his dealings with various police forces over the years.

Over the course of several conversations it became clear that beyond his "Rettendon admission" he was more concerned about getting information out about wider alleged police corruption.

This included details of incidents when he had show the Met Police and Essex Police evidence he had access to firearms, but they allegedly took no action and then refused to accept any wrongdoing during subsequent complaints he made.

In his subsequent interview with Mr O'Mahoney, Mr Cawston added as he waved some of his paperwork: "The idea of spinning them this story, this yarn, is to try to get out this shit, that's what it's about."

During our conversations with Mr Cawston, after he revealed what he had told the Sky documentary, he later said he believed that Whomes and Steele may actually be guilty.

When asked how could they be if he had arranged the hit, he rowed back on his earlier admissions.

He said: "I was around the table when we arranged the hit, but someone else must have got there first."

After the first Sky Documentary Essex Murders episode was shown on April 15, Mr Cawston sent us an email he sent to Essex Police Chief Constable BJ Harrington on November 22 2022 in which he warned them about his upcoming interview and told the force that he had made everything in it up and why.

He added in the email to Mr Harrington: "There will never ever be any police reinvestigation because the right people were convicted."

He received a reply two days later confirming receipt and that it had been sent to the Serious Crime Directorate for review.

When UK News and Investigations later approached the force about Mr Cawston's 2022 confession to HMRC and Norfolk Police, it did not divulge that Mr Cawston had since retracted his admission.

Mr Cawston also sent us a Norfolk Police intelligence report about him dated April 28 2014 which said he had tried to pass information to the security services and police before 2011 and was not believed.

It added that he "had advised that he had linked himself to a famous shooting n Essex in the 1990s which police also do not believe is true."

It said the not being believed "appeared to have triggered the 2011 hostage (siege) situation".

Dave McKelvey and Albert Patrick, of TM-Eye, said in the third episode of the documentary, after interviewing Mr Cawston, that if what he said was true it would be of great significance to the case.

They also said if they were still serving police officers they would be arresting him for conspiracy to murder following the admission.

After learning of Mr Cawston's admission to Mr O'Mahoney that he made up the murder confession, Mr McKelvey said one reason could be that he later realised the implications of what he had said and wanted to undo his confession.

He added that if he had made it up to get publicity so that he could expose other material that he wants to then he had only "damaged his credibility by lying and people would be unlikely to take him seriously" now.

Mr McKelvey (above) believes that the TM-Eye review of the Essex Boys case has thrown up much more new evidence that questions the convictions of Whomes and Steele.

He alleges to have proof that supergrass Darren Nicholls lied during his evidence and the case should be reinvestigated by an independent police force.

However, Mr O'Mahoney, who previously campaigned for several years that the pair were innocent, insists they are guilty and claims the Sky Documentary has produced no new evidence that has not previously been ruled out by the Criminal Case Review Commission and during appeals.

A subsequent documentary by Revelation Films was broadcast after the Sky Rettendon series, and claimed to have finally proved Nicholls'account. It featured interviews with both Mr Cawston and Mr O'Mahoney.

Revelation Films is due to release an audio book of the documentary with new material.