Convicted murderer Michael Steele has been ordered to hand over more than £2,000 of his assets following a lengthy Old Bailey probe into his finances.

Prosecutors had been attempting to seize assets they believe were acquired with drugs cash. These included properties in Essex.

Steele received three life sentences for triple murder in 1998. He and cohort Jack Whomes murdered Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Jack Rolfe on a Rettendon farm track in December 1995.

The 56-year-old drugs baron was originally alleged by customs officers to have netted more than £300,000 from his dealings in cannabis.

But Judge Gerald Gordon ruled that Steele's only reasonable assets amounted to £2,122. The money was cash found in his Colchester home when he was arrested.

He was told he would serve 45 days imprisonment in default of payment of the confiscation order for the cash.

Steele, who still maintains his innocence in relation to the murders, defended himself with the assistance of solicitor Chris Bowen.

He repeatedly sought to discredit the the evidence of supergrass Darren Nicholls who was instrumental in sending him to jail.

He also claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy involving corrupt Essex detectives who sought to '"script the story", given by Nicholls during the original trial.

Nicholls had maintained that during 1995, Steele was behind a series of drug smuggling runs, using his rigid hulled inflatable boat.

But Judge Gordon remarked that Steele was "obsessive" about his case, adding: "In my view he sees conspiracy where it does not exist."

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