Essex Boys: The Truth (2015) Review
On the morning of 7 December 1995 Britain awoke to a shocking news story. Three men had been found brutally murdered in a Range Rover in Essex. As the investigation took shape it was clear that this was a gangland killing – one that has become one of the most infamous gangland murders in British history – the murder of the notorious Essex Boys.
Now twenty years later this brand new feature documentary reveals the truth behind the shocking Rettendon murders and charts the 10 bloodiest years in UK gangland history. When original ‘Essex Boys’ Tony Tucker, Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe’s reign of fear came to a brutal end in Rettendon, there was a void. The police feared a brutal turf war and they were right. The new generation of Essex Boys was led by Malcolm Walsh, a man with a fearsome reputation who took no prisoners, who, along with partners Damon Alvin, Ricky Percival and Steve ‘Nipper’ Ellis, became the ultimate Essex firm.
The subsequent turf war led to yet more bloody violence and gangland executions, adding to the myths, lies and injustices. The resulting criminal inquiries point to dubious police practice and colossal judicial incompetence which first saw Darren Nicholls and then nine years later, Damon Alvin, turn supergrass against their former partners. This highly contentious police tactic led to the only instance in UK legal history where a man charged with murder became a witness for both the defence and prosecution in that same murder case, with many believing that the wrong men went to prison.
I would imagine most people in the UK twenty years ago would remember the shooting and its subsequent press coverage. I do recall seeing the story on the front of newspapers as I passed through town however as I was living a purely hedonistic lifestyle I had no time for anything except getting loaded, laid and sleeping it all off. It wasn’t long before film-makers turned their attention to making a few quid quick off the back of such a story with the Sean Bean starring Essex Boys released in 2000 and later Essex Boys: Retribution. Rise of the Footsoldier amongst many others.
Former Essex Boy firm member Bernard O’Mahoney has adapted his book Essex Books The Final Word into an exhaustively detailed and fascinating account of what really happened that night looking to put to rest the ghosts of those violent years. Initially the retelling feels a little convoluted as O’Mahoney details two stories, both the rise and fall of the original Essex Boys and about those that looked to fill their shoes.
Around twenty minutes in the narrative soothes down into a more cohesive whole and consequently becomes utterly absorbing. As O’Mahoney states his documentary aims to “for the first and last time, for all those affected by the tragedy, here’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the fucking truth.” For my money he does just that. Recommended.
