Essex Boys, The New Generation (26 page)

Percival, according to Alvin, was unsure, but when he was reminded that Boshell was in debt to him he agreed. This debt, Alvin said, had arisen after more than 1,000 Ecstasy pills had supposedly been stolen from Boshell’s flat. The pills, which Alvin claimed belonged to Percival, were to have been sold by Boshell, but ‘guests’ at one of his regular parties had stolen them.

Continuing with his statement, Alvin said, ‘The skunk was in a barn on a farm near Chelmsford. The barn was totally separate from the farmhouse. It was intended that we would cross a field to the barn, thereby avoiding the farmhouse and any possible occupants. From the information that Ricky had been given, it was only the barn doors that had been alarmed, so we knew that as long as we didn’t enter through the doors we would be OK. The plan was we would just cut our way in through the wooden walls of the building. We would be able to get in and steal the crop without anybody knowing. The only piece of equipment that I was required to provide was bin bags that I used in my building business. They were going to be used to transport the skunk from the barn to the van. It was to be unloaded into a workshop used by Ricky. It would have been easy to sell the drugs, as there was a ready market for the substance.’

Alvin claimed in his statement that the job was cancelled because the crop of skunk had not been harvested. Alvin says that he contacted Boshell and informed him that the theft had been temporarily delayed. ‘During the conversation,’ Alvin said, ‘Dean had mentioned obtaining a gun from Ricky that he was intending to use to rob a drug dealer. I had reservations about Dean robbing a drug dealer on his own. If the intended victim was a soft person, he may well have carried out the robbery, but I don’t think he would have been able to go up against somebody who might have caused him problems.’

The following weekend, again according to Alvin, Percival is supposed to have contacted him and said that the crop had finally been harvested. The theft was going to take place three or four days later than planned on the Tuesday. Alvin informed Boshell about the development during a social visit to the White Horse pub in Southchurch.

When reading Alvin’s statement, it is clear that he had rehearsed his story numerous times before telling it. His version of events leading up to Boshell’s murder is slick, precise and ties in with evidence he had been led to believe was infallible.

‘On Tuesday afternoon,’ Alvin continued, ‘Percival had phoned me and said the job was all ready for us to do: he had the van and that was it; it was ready for that night.

‘That day I had been at work with my brother. I got home about two o’clock. I put old clothes, trainers, a hat and a pair of Marigolds in my car. I intended to change into these clothes prior to the theft of the skunk. I didn’t want the smell of drugs on my good clothes.

‘Two hours later, I drove to Elmsleigh Drive and telephoned Dean and Ricky from a phone kiosk. I wanted Ricky to know that I was in Leigh-on-Sea and I wanted Dean to know that I could pick him up later or he could make his own way to me. After making the calls, I went to Kevin Walsh’s flat. I think it was around six o’clock when I arrived. Kevin was home with Sean Buckley. About an hour after I arrived, we were joined by Ricky. I can’t recall who suggested it, but we all decided to go up to the Woodcutters Arms.

‘The three of them went into the pub whilst I remained in the car park talking to a man I knew. I was with him for about ten minutes before I, too, entered the pub.

‘About 8.32 p.m., Dean phoned me from CJ McLaughlin’s mobile and said that he was in Southend and had no way of getting down to Leigh-on-Sea. I told him not to worry and said that I would pick him up. Percival and I left the Woodcutters pub just after 9.15 p.m. to go and get the van and sort out anything else that we might need. We left the car park to go to Ricky’s house, but I stopped off at the phone kiosk in Elmsleigh Drive to ring Dean to let him know that I was going to come and get him. His phone rang a couple of times, but I hung up before he answered because I thought we should get the van first, get everything sorted and then pick up Dean.

‘When I arrived at Ricky’s house, he looked out of the window and indicated to me that he would only be a minute, so I waited in the street for him. When he came out of the house, he had changed into dark clothing. He was wearing dark jogging bottoms and a black or dark bomber-type jacket. We spoke about what we were going to do and it was agreed that we should pick up the van and the tools we were going to need. Ricky told me to follow him and he got into his old Sierra.

‘Just as we were leaving, Dean telephoned me and said that he needed a lift from Southend. He said that he would wait for me outside Lidl’s supermarket in Woodgrange Drive. The time was 9.26 p.m. I told Dean to remain where he was and I would be there soon. I followed Ricky to the end of his road and then up along Elmsleigh Drive. Because of the route we were taking, I assumed we were going to Trevor Adams’s house. Trevor had a van and was good friends with Ricky and I, and so it was a reasonable thing for me to assume.

‘Ricky turned off the route I was expecting him to take and parked at the top of Randolph Close, which is adjacent to the allotments. He got out of his car and I wound my window down, as he indicated he wanted to talk to me. Ricky said that he was going to pick up the tools. I asked him if the van was at this location and he replied no. He walked down Randolph Close, which borders an allotment area. I got out of my car and followed him.

‘Ricky climbed over a three-foot-high fence into the allotments. I remember stopping at a big oak tree to have a piss. Ricky was gone for a few minutes and so I walked back to my car. When he returned, he said that he couldn’t find the tools and so I suggested he take another look. I had agreed to pick up Dean and so I told Ricky that I couldn’t hang about. He said he would sort the van out and after I had picked Dean up we should all meet at his house. Before we went our separate ways there was a brief conversation about me picking up plastic bags to put the drugs in. We then agreed to meet back at Ricky’s house later.

‘When I arrived at Woodgrange Drive, I drove past Dean. He was standing outside Lidl’s, as arranged. I took the next left into Victoria Drive and pulled up. The general conversation between us centred on the proposed theft of the skunk that night. Dean asked me if I could stop at an off-licence and buy him some cigarettes, as he was out of money as usual. I stopped on West Road, gave Dean some money and he went in and bought cigarettes and two bottles of Lucozade. I then drove to my brother’s address to pick up the builder’s bags I had stored in his garage. I assumed my brother was not at home when I got there, as his car wasn’t on the drive.

‘It’s standard practice among our group that if we are involved in anything criminal we do not park our vehicles outside the address of the person we are working with. It is common practice to park several streets away, just in case we are under police surveillance. On this particular night, I drove to the road before Ricky’s and parked up. We walked along an alleyway. Dean was drinking the Lucozade he had bought; he had left the cigarettes in my car.

‘When we reached the end of the alleyway, we were just about to turn into the road where Ricky lives when I heard somebody call my name. It was a call as though they were not sure who I was. I looked towards where the voice had come from and saw Ricky standing near the entrance to the allotments.

‘Dean and I started to walk towards him and he began to approach us. We met somewhere in the middle of the drive. He looked proper pissed off. Ricky started firing questions at Dean about a gun going missing. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first, but it didn’t take long for me to work it out. I asked him what the matter was and he said a gun was missing from the allotments. Dean said he hadn’t been anywhere near it and repeatedly said he hadn’t touched it. Ricky was saying that Dean must have because he was the only one who knew it was there. Dean said something like, “Trevor Adams might have it,” but Ricky said he had already spoken to Trevor and he hadn’t touched it.

‘Dean suggested Ricky might not be looking in the right place but that sent Ricky off on one. He said, “I am not a fucking idiot. I know where I put it and you know where I put it.” At this stage, I began to feel uncomfortable because I knew that Boshell had a gun, or at least he had told me that he’d got one. I decided not to say anything, as I didn’t want to aggravate the situation.

‘Dean was quite worried by this time. Normally, he was a quiet person, but his fear was apparent to me that night. He continued to deny any involvement in the disappearance of the gun and volunteered to go and search for it. Ricky began to mock Dean, saying, “Yeah, well, you’re obviously cleverer than me. I’m obviously too much of a fucking idiot to know where I put it. Why don’t you go and have a look?” Ricky was getting the proper hump. He was saying, “Well, let’s go look, you know you’re wasting my time. I know it’s not there. I’m not fucking stupid.”

‘I intervened and said, “Let’s just go and have a look. I’ll change into my trainers, get the torch out of my car and we can make sure it’s not there.”

‘As I headed towards my car they started to walk towards the gates of the allotments. I changed my shoes, put on an old, dark bomber-style jacket, collected the torch and then made my way back towards Dean and Ricky. I’d been gone for seven or eight minutes, but when I returned I could still hear them shouting. I climbed the gates and started walking along a track to where they were. I could see Dean in front of me and Ricky directly behind him. I just thought, “For fuck’s sake,” and shouted out for them to shut up. They sounded like a couple of girls bitching.

‘At that point, Dean turned to his left to face me. He had both hands up to his face. Because of the darkness and the distance between us I couldn’t see if his hands were covering his eyes or not. I immediately assumed that Ricky had punched Dean, although he didn’t appear to be moaning or anything like that. Dean started moving towards me, but he’d not taken more than a couple of steps when there was a large bang and a flash from a gun. Dean then crumpled to the ground.

‘I saw Ricky walk towards Dean, who remained on the floor. My one thought was that Ricky might be coming for me, so at that point I turned and ran back the way I had come. As I did so, I heard two more bangs and, for some reason, I thought that Ricky was now shooting at me. I sprinted along a track that runs alongside the perimeter fence in the allotments. I can’t say how far I ran, but I remember looking behind me and feeling relieved that I couldn’t see him any more.

‘I climbed over the fence, which is about four feet high, crossed a footpath and leapt down into a brook, which had little, narrow concrete ledges. I can’t even say how long I stayed there; at a guess, it was ten, twenty minutes. I was trying to listen out to hear who was coming. I kept hearing loads of noises, but not of anybody approaching.

‘I walked along the bank of the brook until it turned into mud banks. After waiting a few more minutes, I climbed out, jogged along the footpath until it reached the road and then I crossed over to a place called Bonchurch Park, which is a recreation ground. I waited around for another 15 or 20 minutes because I was panicking and unsure what to do. I didn’t want to walk back to my car because it was near Ricky’s, so I decided to telephone Clair. I walked back to Elmsleigh Drive and used a public telephone.

‘When I got through to Clair, I tried to act calm. I didn’t let on what had happened and arranged to meet her at Kevin Walsh’s flat. As I was walking away from the phone kiosk, I saw a car pull up. I didn’t take much notice of it at first, but then I realised that it was Ricky’s Sierra. As he got out of the car, I immediately looked at his hands and he held them out to indicate that he wasn’t carrying anything. I asked him if Dean was dead and he replied that he was. Ricky began to apologise about what had happened and I asked him what the fuck had he done it for. He said that Dean had pulled a gun on him. I knew that was total bullshit because Dean didn’t have anything in his hands when he had held them to his face. I didn’t mention this to Ricky because I didn’t want to provoke him. He seemed to have calmed down and was saying, “Look, it happened, I didn’t mean it, you would have done the same if he had pulled a gun on you.” I just knew that Ricky was lying. He asked me to get in his car and when I did so he began to say, “I will sort this out, I will sort this out.”

‘I told him that I couldn’t believe he’d done it. “It wasn’t needed,” I said. “He didn’t deserve it.” Ricky kept saying, “He pulled a gun! He pulled a gun, what was I supposed to do?” He asked me where I was going and so I told him that I had rung my girlfriend and arranged for her to pick me up from Kevin’s. “All right, I’ll drive you there,” Ricky replied. When we pulled up outside the flat, Ricky repeated that he would sort it out and added, “Nobody needs to know.”

‘He made me promise that I wouldn’t tell my girlfriend, Kevin or anybody else. He kept saying that he would sort it all out. We went into the flat together. I think it was Kevin’s girlfriend, Kate Griffiths, that let us in. The conversation in the flat wasn’t about anything in particular – Ricky just kept staring at me from the other side of the room. I kept thinking to myself, “For fuck’s sake, Clair, come and pick me up.” It seemed to take forever, but obviously Clair didn’t realise that I just wanted to get out of the area. Ricky left after approximately 15 minutes. He reiterated the fact that he would “sort that thing out, Damon” before walking through the door.

‘At about half past midnight, Clair arrived at the flat and we drove home. I didn’t say anything to her about what had happened to Dean. She had a Chinese meal waiting for us at home, which I didn’t really fancy eating but forced down, otherwise she would have known something was wrong. After eating our meal, we went to bed and slept as normal.