Partner of murdered Ashley Dale jailed over drugs

Lee Harrison's partner Ashley Dale was killed by bullets meant for him in 2022

The boyfriend of a young woman murdered in 2022 by a gunman intending to kill him has been jailed for five years for drug trafficking.

Lee Harrison's barrister told Liverpool Crown Court his client had experienced a "difficult period" but did not offer the death of Ashley Dale as an "excuse".

Harrison, now 27, was pulled over alongside accomplice Terence Rice in a BMW in Kirkdale, north Liverpool, on 25 November last year where police found a "graft phone" used to take drug orders.

Miss Dale's mother, Julie Dale, said after the hearing: "He clearly thought nothing of Ash, as he continued with his ways even after his girlfriend was cruelly taken from him."

Ashley Dale with her Dachshund Dahla, who was in the house when she was killed

Miss Dale, 28, died when drug-dealer James Witham barged through the front-door of her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, on 21 August 2022.

Witham sprayed the property with bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun, one of which struck Miss Dale as she tried to flee out of the back door of the house in Leinster Road.

The court heard Miss Dale had been excelling in her job at Knowsley Council and had no involvement in criminal activity whatsoever.

Harrison, who lived with Miss Dale but was out in the city centre with a friend at the time of the shooting, did not co-operate with detectives investigating the murder of his partner of five years - claiming he had no idea who would want to shoot him.

It later emerged he was locked into an increasingly heated feud with his former friend Niall Barry, leader of a local drugs gang, who ordered the shooting.

Julie Dale said she had still not had any contact from Harrison to "give me answers" or offer any apologies.

"As Ashley's mum, this is one of the hardest parts I have had to deal with," she said.

"I still cannot comprehend how he and his family can be so callous and dismissive of us."

On Friday morning, Liverpool Crown Court heard Harrison and 36-year-old Rice were controlling a phone used to control a drugs distribution network nicknamed the "Kyle Line".

Social media images shown in court of Lee Harrison (right) with Niall Barry, the man who later ordered his girlfriend's murder

Holly Menary, prosecuting, told the court police had stopped a BMW car driven by Rice which had travelled through the Wallasey Tunnel into Liverpool.

Harrison was in the passenger seat and was described as "agitated" when officers approached.

The court heard a Nokia phone was found in the centre console, which analysis by experts concluded had been used for about 247 drugs transactions, selling both heroin and crack-cocaine.

In the home Harrison shared with his mother in Liverpool Road, police found the block of cocaine, worth up to an estimated £11,900, as well as weighing scales, powder used as a cutting agent and bags, some of which were in her bedroom.

Stephen McNally, representing Harrison, told the court the fact he was directly operating the phone and had drugs stored in his home suggested he was not at the "very top" of the drugs gang.

"He was a foot-soldier who was required to get his hands dirty," Mr McNally said.

Terence Rice was also jailed for an incident in a Cumbria caravan park where he threatened a man with a broken bottle

Referring to the death of Miss Dale, Mr McNally said: "This offending came on the back of a difficult period in his life, that is for reasons he does not wish me to ventilate in open court.

"He wishes me to stress that in no way does it excuse his offending."

He said after suffering the "significant bereavement", Mr Harrison lost his employment and moved back with his mother.

Mr McNally said: "He felt as though he was trapped at his mother's address and he felt he needed a quick fix to escape that financial downwards spiral."

Judge Simon Medland KC told both men they had built a "commercial business" on "destroying people lives."

Julie Dale said: "There's no celebration or karma here.

"Just one broken, grieving mum and family who wish Ashley had never met Lee Harrison."

She added that she hoped her message would "strike a chord" with other young women to make them "think twice before getting into a relationship with men who are involved in organised crime and drug-dealing".