Essex Boys gangland killer Michael Steele on path to freedom after prison downgrade
ESSEX Boys gangland killer Michael Steele is on the path to freedom.
The 79-year-old — jailed for the 1995 shotgun killings of Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe — has been downgraded from a Category A high-risk prisoner.
It means he can be moved to a less strict jail and is closer to release.
The Parole Board confirmed it had reviewed his status based on the risk that Steele might present to the public.
Steele, who protests his innocence, is at HMP Wakefield, West Yorks, but is likely to be moved to a Category B prison.
He was jailed in 1998 over the killings, linked to a gangland feud.
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Drug dealers Tate, 36, Tucker, 38, and Rolfe, 26, were blasted to death as they sat in a Land Rover at Rettendon, Essex.
Jack Whomes, 60, was convicted alongside Steele but was freed last year.
We revealed last March how Whomes had been freed on licence and returned to his mum’s Suffolk home.
