Impossible to rid streets of guns - grieving dad

Tim Edwards, father of murdered beautician Elle Edwards, thinks tackling gun crime "starts at your doorstep"

The father of a young beautician who was shot dead outside a pub on Christmas Eve has said he believes it is "impossible" to remove all illegal guns from the streets.

When he was younger, Tim Edwards said it was "unheard of" for innocent people to be caught up in botched gangland hits like the one in which his 26-year-old daughter Elle was killed on 24 December 2022.

Miss Edwards was standing in a smoking area outside the Lighthouse Pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, when 23-year-old Connor Chapman opened fire with a submachine gun.

The innocent bystander was caught in the crossfire when the gunman tried to kill two rival gang-members who happened to be standing near to her at the time.

Elle Edwards was an innocent bystander

Chapman, a member of a gang based around Wirral's Woodchurch estate, was in July 2023 jailed for life with a minimum term of 48 years for Elle's murder and the attempted murder of two members of the Beechwood estate gang.

Mr Edwards, who has set up a charitable foundation in Elle's name, spoke to BBC Radio Merseyside about his views on tackling serious violence.

"It's always been raising the awareness of the consequences of getting involved in gun crime, or knife crime or any life of crime really," he said.

"If you get to that level where you have got access to firearms it's going to end badly, it's not going to end any other way."

Mr Edwards was asked how weapons could best be removed from the streets.

He replied: "I think that's an impossible job, unfortunately, in this day and age.

"Certainly when I was younger, it was targeted attacks, people who had access to firearms generally involved in gangs - the 'old school' gangsters if you like.

"But it was very few and far between that you heard about it.

"Certainly innocent people didn't get caught out.

"But now, I think the access to firearms - it's gone pretty awful."

Tim Edwards and Det Supt Sue Coombs from Merseyside Police appeared at a news conference after the fatal shooting

Mr Edwards also described knife crime as a "pandemic".

He said gun and knife crime could only be tackled by communities working closely together.

"If people are trying to do their own thing, it's not going to get anywhere, he warned.

"I think you need to do it as a community and that starts literally from [your own] front door step and your neighbour."

Mr Edwards was keen to promote a charity football match for the Elle Edwards Memorial Trophy.

The game will take place on his daughter's birthday - 11 May - at Poulton Victoria Sports & Social Club in Wallasey.

Last year Liverpool stars Harvey Elliot and Tyler Morton attended the game, Mr Edwards said.

This year some of the proceeds will be donated to New Brighton Saints after the football club was hit by a recent arson attack.