The arrests
In May 1996, Michael John Steele of Great Bentley, Colchester, and Jack Arthur Whomes of Brockford, Suffolk, were charged with the three Rettendon murders. The key witness was Darren Nicholls, a former drug-smuggling associate of Steele’s who agreed to give evidence against him in exchange for protection and a reduced sentence on his own charges.
The trial
The trial took place at the Old Bailey through 1997 and into early 1998. The prosecution’s case rested almost entirely on Nicholls’ testimony, supported by mobile phone records that placed Steele and Whomes in the relevant area on the relevant evening.
On 20 January 1998, after a long deliberation, the jury convicted both men. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 15 years.
The doubts
In the two decades that followed, the convictions have been the subject of intense scrutiny. The reliability of Nicholls’ testimony, the strength of the mobile phone evidence, and the lack of forensic links to Steele and Whomes have all been picked over in books, documentaries, appeals and Court of Appeal referrals. Both men have always maintained their innocence.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission has examined the case multiple times. Books by Bernard O’Mahoney, journalists and the men’s own legal teams have argued that the wrong people were jailed.
Release
Jack Whomes was granted release on parole in 2021, after serving 23 years. Michael Steele, then in his 80s, was granted parole in February 2025. Both remain on licence with strict conditions, and the question of who really pulled the trigger at Rettendon remains, for many, unresolved.