Essex Boy (25 page)

I didn’t for one moment think that Alvin was going to get Boshell to sweep his drive daily to honour the debt, nor did I think that he would trust him again to handle his stock of drugs, and so I assumed that Boshell was going to be used in some form of crime to recoup the cash that he owed.

Halil Osman worked alongside Boshell at the cafe for just six or seven days and during that time Boshell confided in this relative stranger that he was interested in guns. When Halil asked him what he meant, Boshell claimed that he had recently acquired a gun.

‘Dean told me that he and his brother had gone to London to buy the gun,’ Halil said. ‘He told me that he had purchased two guns because it was cheaper to buy a pair. Dean told me that he had paid £500 for them. “Normally,” he said, “a clean gun would cost £300 or £400 but because he had been kept waiting a long time, he had got them cheap.” I asked him if he kept them at his home address and he replied, “No, I am not that stupid.” Dean said that he would bury them or keep them somewhere else or at someone else’s. I couldn’t make up my mind if Dean was actually telling the truth.’ Boshell did not have a brother but he always referred to Alvin as ‘bro’ or ‘brother’. No doubt he had adopted the terms from some crap rap song.

There is no way of knowing if Boshell did buy a gun in London with ‘his brother’, but Halil is not the only person who claimed to have had a conversation with Boshell about guns. When Boshell left the Leigh-on-Sea area via Southend Hospital, he had moved into a flat at the rear of the cafe where he worked. Not really knowing anybody in the area, he would occasionally visit his old haunts along Southend seafront, seeking out company. One day he bumped into a man I’ll call Paul, who he had originally met while serving one of his many prison sentences. Through Paul, Boshell was introduced to a group of people which included Stacey Harris, her brother C.J. McLaughlin and a man named Jason Spendiff-Smith. Boshell and Spendiff-Smith got on well and they began to go out drinking together.

Like Boshell, Spendiff-Smith had led a fairly nomadic life. moving from one flat and one disastrous relationship to the next. Stacey Harris, his girlfriend at the time he met Boshell, had recently announced that her previous partner was due for release from prison and so Spendiff-Smith would have to leave her home. Fortunately for Spendiff-Smith, a friend of Harris’s named Charlotte Taylor was seeking a lodger and so he moved into her flat. Boshell would often visit Spendiff-Smith at Taylor’s address when he had finished work at the cafe. Any pizzas, chips or similar fast food that hadn’t been sold was given to Boshell by his employers and he would share it with his friends. According to Spendiff-Smith, not long after he had met Boshell he was invited to go on a job with him and ‘earn about £1,000’.

‘I cannot remember exactly what his words were,’ Spendiff-Smith said, when trying to recall the conversation, ‘but he said that he and his brother were going to break into a house in Westcliff and steal a load of drug plants. He said that the house was surrounded by fields and it would have to be done in the dark. He mentioned that the people who owned the house were not very nice and not from around here. I assumed from that description that they were foreigners. Dean told me that he knew that the people were going to be away, or out of the house, at the time. He said that the job was planned to take place the following Thursday and he would be getting paid at least £2,500 for doing it. I didn’t have any money or anything to do so I said, “Let me think about it.”

‘The following day, Dean asked me if I would go out with his brother and him to have a drive past the house where they were going to do the job. I agreed to go with him because I was bored at home, but his brother never turned up. For some reason the job didn’t take place the following Thursday, but on the Friday Dean told me that he was going to meet up with one of his mates to pick up a gun. I didn’t really think much of it, I just thought it was Dean being all mouth. On Sunday, Dean and I went out drinking. We started off in the Last Post, then visited a bar called Motel’s and another called the Green Door, before ending up in the White Horse. On the way to the White Horse we called in at Dean’s flat because he said he wanted to show me something.

‘When we entered, Dean asked me to close the door, which I did. He lifted his mattress up and I could see that he had a gun and three bullets hidden underneath it. I would describe the gun as a revolver-type handgun, which was about six or seven inches long, misty black or grey in colour and slightly rusty. The handle was brown and looked like it had been taped up. I was surprised to see a gun, as I thought it had just been all talk from Dean. He said, “Go on. Make a man of yourself and hold it. It’s not loaded.” I didn’t want to touch it and felt a bit uneasy seeing it. I said that I was going, so Dean put the gun back under the mattress.

‘After that, we walked to the White Horse pub to have a drink. It’s quite a long walk from his flat and on the way I told Dean that I didn’t want to get involved in the job that he had planned. He said, “You’re such a pussy,” and I replied, “I don’t care, I don’t want to do it. I don’t care if it’s £1,000 or £1,000,000, I am still not going to get caught for that, or go around killing people.” I had automatically thought that Dean was going to use the gun on this job. For all I knew he could have gone out and killed himself, or maybe killed me.

‘At some point during the evening Dean received a call on his mobile phone from his brother, the one he always spoke to. He said that he was just popping outside to meet him to get some money and make sure the job was still on. I assumed that Dean was talking about the break-in. When Dean came back five or ten minutes later, he said something like, “I love my brother”, and took some money that he had been given out of his pocket. He said that the job was still on and told me to look out of the window at his brother’s car, which was a red Audi convertible. When I looked out at the car, I could not see the driver, but there was a blonde female in the passenger seat and I think a little girl in the rear. Dean then told me that the job was going to be done on Tuesday, which was only two days away.’

The following day, Boshell didn’t see Spendiff-Smith because he went to work at the cafe. During his shift, Boshell was working with a man named Ishmael Mehmet, who was also employed to wash up in the kitchen. Ishmael later recalled that during the evening Dean received a number of calls on his mobile phone, but he did not know who they were from. At 2000 hrs Dean received a phone call and, when he had identified the caller, he walked out of the cafe to continue his conversation. This was the only call that Boshell felt he needed to take out of earshot of Ishmael and others.

Analysis of phone records by the police, following Boshell’s murder, has proven that this call was made from Alvin’s girlfriend’s phone. Following this call, Boshell asked Ishmael if he thought it would be OK for him to have a couple of hours off the following night. Ishmael told Boshell that it wasn’t up to him, but he didn’t think their employer would mind if he asked. Out of curiosity Ishmael asked Boshell why he needed the time off.

‘I need to do a job,’ Boshell replied. ‘I am going to rob some drugs in Chelmsford which are worth around £100,000.’ Without prompting from Ishmael, Boshell began to elaborate. ‘Me and my brother are going to rob a house in Chelmsford. It’s in a little village. There’s a barn at the back. It’s full of skunk and me and my brother are going to take the plants.’

Ishmael, not wishing to become in any way involved in criminal activity, didn’t press Boshell for any further information and quickly changed the subject. At 0400 hrs, Dean’s employer closed up the cafe and called out ‘goodbye’ to Boshell as he left. Turning, Boshell raised his hand and shouted out, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, mate,’ but Dean Boshell never did return to work.

CHAPTER TEN

Looking back on my past, there is not much that I am truly ashamed
of; we all have regrets but shame is something deeper. The only thing that I can honestly say that I am ashamed of is the fact that I sold drugs. It is a vile occupation because it spawns animals like Tate, Tucker, Rolfe and Alvin. They operate without morals, limits or regard for any other individual. Hand on heart, I came close to becoming one of them; cocaine made me think I was fucking Superman. Thankfully, Ricky Percival pulled me from the mouth of the abyss by sitting me down one evening and telling me a few home truths about myself. He shouted at me ‘to fucking wise up’ and explained that Alvin was encouraging my customers to turn against me by saying that I could not be trusted, that I was violent and I had shot Pat Tate and I would not hesitate to shoot anybody else that got in my way. ‘Be careful,’ Percival had warned, ‘if Alvin fails to remove you with gossip or by grassing, he will probably shoot you.’ If only Percival had listened to his own advice, he wouldn’t be sitting in a cell in HMP Full Sutton today with a minimum of 26 years to serve. Ricky, like me, sold drugs. He didn’t shoot the Trettons. He didn’t execute anybody. In fact, his most heinous crime was to have courted Damon Alvin’s friendship.

Four hours after leaving work that fateful morning, Boshell was knocking on the door of his friend’s flat.

Spendiff-Smith later told police that when Boshell arrived, ‘Charlotte was in one room. Me and Stacey Harris were in another, and Stacey’s three kids were sleeping in the spare room. I got up at about 0930 hrs, then Boshell and I went to the Social Security offices. We had no money, so we were going to try and get what they call “a crisis loan”. While we were there, Charlotte came in with Stacey and her boyfriend. We only exchanged hellos, because Stacey’s boyfriend doesn’t really like me. Dean was refused the loan and so we went down to the Abbey National so I could try and get some cash from the hole in the wall machine. This was about 1045 hrs. I had no money in my account, so we went to the Job Centre. I signed on and then we returned to the Social Security offices to see if they would give me any money, but they refused.

‘Dean and I went back to the flat and found that Charlotte, her boyfriend, Stacey and her three kids had all returned. I asked Stacey to lend me some money and although she had none herself, she did say that she would get some off her boyfriend to lend me. Stacey left the flat to find him and about ten minutes later Dean and I went to meet her in town. Stacey never did arrive at the place we had agreed to meet, and so we didn’t get any money. As we were walking around town, Dean said, “I haven’t been to see my probation officer for ages.” I didn’t think much of this at first and so said nothing as we walked down towards the Probation Service offices. Standing outside, Dean announced that he had a warrant out for his arrest. He had not kept the terms and conditions of his probation, so he could have, and should have, been arrested as soon as he set foot in there. He obviously knew this, but he didn’t seem bothered.

‘I haven’t got a clue if he was trying to get himself arrested on purpose or not. He did say to me, “I want to make sure that I am wanted by the police.” I think he was trying to look big in front of me. I would say Dean was in the Probation Office for only a few minutes before coming out. He said that his probation officer had been surprised to see him because he had missed a number of previous appointments. A warrant had been issued recalling him back to prison but, other than that, he said no more about it. We then returned home where we found Charlotte and her boyfriend looking after Stacey’s kids. At approximately 1800 hrs, Charlotte and her boyfriend left the flat, leaving me and Dean to babysit. We didn’t mind because we were not going anywhere. Two hours later Stacey’s brother, C.J. McLaughlin, arrived.

‘He said that he had come to pick the kids up for Stacey, which I was pleased about. When they had all gone, Dean said to me that he needed to borrow some dark clothing for doing the break-in and asked me if I could lend him some. I sorted him out my Adidas trainers, a dark-blue Puffa jacket and a pair of blue jogging bottoms. Dean then left the flat saying that he was going home to get changed and get something to eat.

‘About 15 minutes later he came back wearing a grey jumper, my Adidas trainers, Puffa jacket and my blue jogging bottoms. He told me that he was expecting his brother to phone and if he fell asleep, not to answer the call but to wake him. We began to watch
The Brit Awards
on TV but Dean soon fell asleep. At about 2045 hrs, Dean’s mobile rang and I nudged him awake. I could hear Dean talking; he was asking the caller what time he was going to meet him and 2100 hrs was mentioned. As soon as the conversation ended Charlotte came home and Dean got up, saying that he had to go and meet his brother, who was picking him up at Lidl’s supermarket. Just before he left, I was having a laugh with him, saying make sure you bring back loads of fags, loads of food and things, and he replied, “Yes, I will.” Dean then left the flat with his phone and I never saw him again.’

Nobody can say for certain what was going through the mind of Dean Boshell that day. What is known is that Boshell appeared to be extremely concerned about something. If Boshell was planning to commit a crime which was going to earn him a substantial wage that night, why would he apply for a £70 crisis loan at 0940 hrs and why would he hand himself in to his probation officer at 1539 hrs, knowing that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest?

Boshell’s behaviour changed dramatically after he was admitted to hospital suffering from the injuries caused by Alvin’s beating. He had abandoned his flat in haste shortly after being discharged from the hospital, and he had left Leigh-on-Sea and severed all contact with his friends there. He had given up selling drugs and labouring for Alvin and, to substitute that income, he had taken a menial job washing up at night in a cafe. On 8, 14 and 27 February, he had pleaded with the Social Security Department to grant him crisis loans as he was desperate for cash. Nobody can say what he was going to do with this money, but he had talked about returning to live in Leeds.

Alvin had been in contact with Boshell by phone on a sporadic basis, and Boshell had talked about doing a job with him. However, Boshell had wept while explaining a situation that he was in to Nicole Kidman lookalike Lisa. He had told her that there was no way out of it and that he wanted to get a gun because he was really frightened. I know for a fact that Boshell had been dealing drugs for Alvin and the large amounts of cocaine seen by Lisa would support what I say.

The fact that his flat was ransacked and he ended up in hospital would, in my opinion, prove that Boshell had been beaten up by Alvin because Alvin couldn’t find the drugs or the money that was owed to him in Boshell’s flat. Fleeing Leigh-on-Sea and associating with an entirely new circle of friends would add weight to the fact that Boshell was trying to avoid Alvin. No explanation was given by Boshell as to why the theft of the drugs from the barn had been cancelled. Perhaps he had agreed to do it to work off Alvin’s debt and then changed his mind at the last moment. Perhaps there was no ‘job’ and like Tate, Tucker and Rolfe, Boshell was simply being lured to his death.

What is interesting is the fact that Alvin telephoned him using his girlfriend’s phone. Boshell took the call out of earshot of his colleagues when he realised who he was speaking to. A friend of Boshell’s, who was interviewed during the police investigation, said that Boshell rarely got calls, but a week or two before his death he was receiving several daily. This, to me, indicates that Boshell had been trying to avoid Alvin, who then used his partner’s phone to call him. Boshell would have recognised Clair’s number, had no reason to fear talking to her and answered it. Realising it was Alvin and not Clair on the phone, Boshell had then taken the call outside the cafe to prevent anybody overhearing what was being said. Once he had spoken to Alvin, Boshell immediately asked his employer for time off to do ‘the job’.

When you try to contact people over debts or grievances, they act in exactly the same way as Boshell. They duck, dive and avoid your calls, but when you lure them into talking to you, they become very compliant. Boshell’s nervousness and reckless visit to the Probation Office, knowing that he could be arrested and returned to prison, suggests to me that the last thing he wanted to do was meet Alvin that night.

Earlier that day, Alvin had been at work with his brother. He arrived home at about 1400 hrs. He put on old clothes, trainers, a hat and threw a pair of Marigold gloves in his car. Two hours later he drove to Elmsleigh Drive, where Boshell had lived before fleeing to Southend, and telephoned Boshell from a phone kiosk. Alvin had wanted Boshell to know that he was going to pick him up later, unless of course he could make his own way to Leigh-on-Sea. After making the call, Alvin went to visit Kevin Walsh at his flat. When he arrived at approximately 1800 hrs, Alvin found that Kevin was home with Boshell’s friend Sean Buckley. About an hour after he arrived, the three men were joined by Percival. At a loose end, they all decided to visit the Woodcutters Arms.

Phone records show that at 2032 hrs Boshell telephoned Alvin from C.J. McLaughlin’s mobile phone. He said that he was in Southend and had no way of getting down to Leigh-on-Sea, so Alvin told him not to worry and agreed that he would pick him up. Alvin made and received a number of other calls while in the pub that night. One was from his girlfriend, Clair, who had asked what he would like for dinner. Clair had also mentioned that she would pick Alvin up later as she didn’t want him drink-driving. Alvin agreed meekly and suggested that she pick him up from Kevin Walsh’s flat when she had finished work. Shortly after Clair’s call, Alvin had told Kevin that he had to go home quickly, but he would return. Kevin said that because the pub was quiet he was going to take a few beers back to his flat and Alvin was welcome to join him. Alvin agreed that he would.

While Alvin was in the car park, Percival came out of the pub and Alvin mentioned that he had to go home briefly before going on to Kevin’s flat. Alvin asked Percival if he too was going to Kevin’s and he replied that he was. Before parting company, Percival offered to pick Alvin up from his home because he knew that Clair didn’t like him drink-driving. Alvin agreed and left in his red Audi. Percival drove to his own home, had something to eat and then set off to pick up Alvin.

At 2100 hrs, after leaving Spendiff-Smith at his flat, CCTV cameras recorded Boshell and C.J. McLaughlin walking to Woodgrange Drive, in Southend, and waiting outside the Lidl’s store for Alvin to arrive. At 2115 hrs, CCTV at the Woodcutters Arms recorded Alvin leaving the premises. C.J. McLaughlin later told police that at 2126 hrs Boshell had telephoned Alvin’s mobile from a public telephone situated on Woodgrange Drive. McLaughlin said that Alvin had turned up not long after Boshell had made the call in a red car. Boshell had then got into the vehicle and called out, ‘See you tomorrow,’ before being driven away.

The general conversation between the two men surrounded the job Alvin claimed that they were going to carry out that night. Alvin said that a barn was being used to grow the drug skunk in Chelmsford, and if they stole it Boshell could not only clear his debt but also make a few thousand pounds’ profit. As they drove away from Southend, Boshell asked Alvin if he could stop off at an off-licence and buy him some cigarettes as he was out of money. Complaining bitterly, Alvin stopped at an off-licence and gave Boshell a handful of change. Moments later, Boshell returned to the car with cigarettes and two bottles of Lucozade.

When they arrived in Leigh-on-Sea, Alvin parked his vehicle in a quiet side street and told Boshell to follow him. They walked along an alleyway, alongside a small brook. Boshell was drinking the Lucozade that he had bought, having left the cigarettes in Alvin’s car. Alvin said that the ‘tools’ that they were going to use to break into the barn had been left on allotments in Manchester Drive. The site is vast, secluded and ideal for storing weapons, burglary tools and any other such items that may be used by criminals. It is also an ideal place to execute somebody. When they arrived at the allotments, Alvin told Boshell that the tools they had gone to retrieve were no longer there.

‘You stay here and look for them while I go and fetch a van. I’m not using my car because it will stink of skunk. I won’t be long,’ Alvin said.

Instead of going to pick up the van, Alvin drove home and awaited the arrival of Percival. Alvin appeared to be cleaning up in the kitchen when Percival arrived. He let his friend in, gave him a dozen or so bottles of beer out of the fridge and told him to put them in his car. The pair then drove to Walsh’s flat in Percival’s car. They arrived at about 2245 hrs and gained entry by beeping the horn. It was Kate Griffiths who went down the stairs to let them in. Everybody sat around drinking and talking until approximately 2330 hrs when Percival announced that he was going home to bed. An hour later, Clair arrived at the flat and Alvin left with her. When they were alone in the car, Clair mentioned that Boshell had rung her from a call box and wanted to know where Alvin had got to as he was waiting for him. Phone records show that this call was made at 2348 hrs from a phone kiosk close to the allotments. Alvin told Clair that he needed to sort something out with Boshell, which wouldn’t take long and so she dropped him off and awaited his return. As Alvin walked along the street towards the allotments he heard somebody call out his name.

The caller sounded unsure who he was. Alvin looked towards where the voice had come from and saw Boshell standing near the entrance to the allotments. Boshell could see from Alvin’s facial expression that he was pissed off. Alvin started firing questions at Boshell about his drugs and money going missing. Boshell tried to explain that he hadn’t stolen his drugs, they had gone missing from his flat during a party, but Alvin wasn’t having any of it. He kept saying that Boshell had squandered the drugs and his money; nobody else had stolen them because he was the only one who knew the drugs were there.