A SUFFOLK woman whose son is to appeal against his triple life sentence for three murders has today said she can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

A SUFFOLK woman whose son is to appeal against his triple life sentence for three murders has today said she can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Jack Whomes was convicted of the gangland execution of three drug barons on an isolated Essex farm track in December 1995.

Since then he has spent nine years in prison for the murders of Craig Rolfe, Pat Tate and Tony Tucker.

But on March 22 the 43-year-old will appear at the Court of Appeal, in London, in an attempt to walk out as a free man.

His mother Pam, from Framlingham, has always protested his innocence and said the court date simply could not come soon enough.

She said: "We have been fighting for nearly nine years for his release and are very confident this appeal case will be his chance.

"It has turned our families lives upside down. When he went into prison he had two children - Jack, 11 and Lucy, 10.

"Now they are 18 and 19 and he has lost seeing them grow up. Nothing can give him back the years he has lost but if we hadn't have kept fighting he could be serving another nine years as yet."

Mr Whomes, from Brockford, was convicted, along with 61-year-old Michael Steele, at London's Old Bailey in January 1998.

It was one of the longest and most expensive trials ever, lasting more than five months and costing £1.5million.

The prosecution claimed the three victims were shot dead in a Range Rover in Rettendon, Essex, on December 6 1995, in a dispute over a smuggled shipment of poor quality cannabis.

Peter Corry was also convicted of conspiracy to import cannabis at the same hearing and sentenced to four-and-a-half-years behind bars.

Whomes and Steele were also convicted of conspiracy to import cannabis and given concurrent sentences of eight years imprisonment.

These convictions will now be looked at again.

Mrs Whomes said the whole thing has been a devastating chapter in her families lives but she felt the case would lead to the first positive thing to happen for years.

She added: "At last I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I would be really surprised if he isn't allowed to come home this time."