A notorious gang of East London drug dealers was behind the Rettendon murders, according to a book by a friend of the victims.

Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe were gunned down in a vengeance attack by the gang after they ripped them off.

They were lured to their deaths by supergrass Darren Nicholls who feared the men wanted him dead after he squandered their cash on a batch of dud drugs.

The allegations are made by former Basildon bouncer Bernie O'Mahoney in his new book Essex Boys. It claims to lift the lid on the south Essex underworld and the series of murders and deaths that rocked the county in the mid-1990s.

It claims Jack Whomes and Michael Steele, who were jailed for the killings, are innocent and links the murder of Benfleet car dealer John Marshall and small-time dealer Kevin Whittaker to the tangled web.

Tucker, Tate and Rolfe were slain in November 1995 in a country lane in Rettendon.

Mr O'Mahoney ran a security firm with Tucker and Tate while he was head doorman at Raquels nightclub in Basildon and was questioned in connection with the murders.

Now in Peterborough, he said: "I've been plagued by journalists and TV companies investigating the murders and I'm sick of it. I just want to get on with my life. Writing it all down means there is nothing left to say."

Mr O'Mahoney's book also names a drug dealer who allegedly sold Leah Betts her fatal Ecstasy pill.

Police said no new investigations were planned.

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