Elle Edwards killer 'was my mate' - defendant

Danielle Dowdall, with a blue scarf covering her face, and Roxanne Matthews, (second from left) outside Liverpool Crown Court

A woman who is accused of hiding clothes for the gunman who shot Elle Edwards outside a Merseyside pub has told a court he was her "mate", not just her drug dealer.

Danielle Dowdall, 34, denies helping Connor Chapman by looking after a bag which contained clothing he wore when he carried out the shooting on Christmas Eve 2022 outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey.

She told Liverpool Crown Court he had given her a bag but it was before that date because he had been kicked out by his girlfriend.

Ms Dowdall and co-defendant Roxanne Matthews deny assisting an offender.

Ms Dowdall, of Woodchurch, Wirral, admitted Chapman had supplied her with cocaine.

When questioned about a number of calls and texts between her and Chapman on 30 December 2022, Ms Dowdall said: "It clearly looks like we're having a conversation.

"He wasn't just a drug dealer, he was my mate as well."

Ms Dowdall denied attempting to steal Pandora jewellery which was in the bag, alleged to have been bought by Chapman on a shopping trip on Christmas Eve, hours before he carried out the shooting.

She told the court: "Before the girl lost her life I had the jewellery and the clothes, that's how I know they were no part of that girl's poor loss of life."

Elle Edwards was shot outside a pub on Christmas Eve

Asked about calls with co-accused Ms Matthews, 34, on 13 January 2023, after Chapman was charged, Ms Dowdall said: "We were both panicking that we were friends with him."

Martine Snowdon, defending Ms Matthews, asked if the pair had both realised they had been "duped" into helping the person responsible for Ms Edwards' murder.

Ms Dowdall said: "Quite possibly."

She denies one count of assisting an offender and Ms Matthews, of Noctorum, Birkenhead, denies three counts of the offence.

Chapman's uncle David Chambers, 43, of no fixed abode, denies two counts and Paul Owen, 55, of Woodchurch, denies one count.

The trial continues.