A KILLER convicted of gunning down three drug dealers will get £44,500 in damages... after being left with a toothache.

The Home Office has been forced to fork out the cash to Michael Steele after negligent dental care left him in agony for years.

Steele, aged in his late sixties, was given three life sentences in 1998 for murdering Basildon drug dealers Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe.

The trio were shot dead while sitting in a Range Rover on a rural farm track, in Rettendon, in December 1995.

Soon after he was sent down Steele, from Great Bentley, lost one of his tooth fillings while at London’s Belmarsh prison.

Steele has suffered constant problems with his teeth after they were damaged while playing rugby in his childhood.

While being consistently moved between high security prisons over the past 12 years, a court found the prison service failed to ensure Steele received adequate dental treatment.

Instead he suffered severe pain.

Last July, Judge Edward Bailey ruled the Home Office had been negligent in ensuring the triple killer was given adequate dental care.

He awarded Steele £66,400 damages, including about £250 for every week of more than six years of toothache he endured.

But on Friday appeal judge Lady Justice Smith ruled, while Judge Bailey was right to find the Home Office negligent, the amount of damages should be reduced to £44,500.