Our reporter Nick Garnett has been busily bringing you lines from today's sentencing. As you'll have read in his posts below, the court has been hearing about the weapon used to kill Elle Edwards: a sub-machine gun that also injured five other people.

Connor Chapman fired 12 shots from the Skorpion gun. A photo of this weapon - which is capable of firing 15 rounds a second - was shown to jurors during the trial. But the specific gun Chapman used has never been found.

Image source, Merseyside Police/PA Media

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

The prosecution tells the courts it has submitted its suggestions for sentencing.

The court will soon hear from the defence legal teams, who will also the judge take into account various facts in mitigation.

We’ll hear them in a minute or two.

As we've been reporting, Connor Chapman is due to be sentenced shortly for the murder of 26-year-old Elle Edwards.

You can watch our live broadcast of the hearing now - by clicking the Play button at the top of this page.

We expect our stream from inside Liverpool Crown Court to begin some time after 14:30.

Until then, we'll be bringing you some of the latest reaction to Chapman's conviction.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

"Pressing the trigger 12 times - the gun was set to semi-automatic," the prosecution continues.

"The location and timing of the offence - just before midnight on Christmas Eve - meant it was inevitable that people would have been hit.”

The prosecution continues by saying Chapman shouldn’t have even been living on the estate where he was based because of the gang injunction he was supposed to be abiding by.

Chapman involved a significant number of people as part of his attack.

Lawyer Nigel Power KC refers to Chapman's friends who booked ferry tickets to Spain he almost used, people who booked a holiday home he hid in, people who he stashed clothes with and who helped burn out the stolen car he’d used in the shooting.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

This murder was a result of a gang feud, which involved many shootings over the last two years.

Power tells the court about the level of violence between gangs in Wirral. In 2022 there were 49 occasions where a firearm was discharged in Merseyside.

Five were fatal, he says. Nine discharges happened in Wirral.

The Skorpion sub-machine gun has become the weapon of choice for organised crime gangs. They were involved in three murders last year.

Since Chapman was arrested there have been no shootings in Wirral.

The only noise apart from Power’s address to the court is the sound of journalists typing.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Continuing, Nigel Power KC tells the court that the prison sentence for murder is life.

Power outlines to the judge the aggravating features: this was a case involving a significant amount of planning and premeditation.

Elle Edwards was a wholly innocent victim to what happened, he says.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Prosecutor Nigel Power KC tells the court about Chapman’s previous offences.

He has appeared on 20 separate occasions on 45 offences. He was first convicted when he was 14.

He has been given all sorts of sentences. He admitted during the trial to class-A drug dealing.

Since our court reporter Nick Garnett mentioned them in his last post, here's a reminder of what the two men were convicted of yesterday - after a three-and-a-half week trial.

On top of admitting a charge of handling stolen goods before the trial, Connor Chapman was found guilty by a jury of:

• murder
• attempted murder
• two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm
• one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm
• possession of a gun and ammunition

His co-defendant Thomas Waring was also convicted on two separate charges:

• possession of a prohibited firearm
• assisting an offender, after helping to burn out the stolen Mercedes used in the shooting

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

From where I’m sitting, I cannot see Connor Chapman or Thomas Waring.

It’s been like that every day of the trial - especially with Chapman who has hid in the corner of the glass-fronted dock at the rear of court 5.1.

He’s done everything he can to stay out of the line of vision of Elle’s father, who each day sits in the same seat.

We only know Chapman has appeared in court when we hear the clinking of the handcuffs and chains he has to wear when he’s brought into the dock from the cells below.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

The family of Elle Edwards takes up the entire public gallery.

On the other side of the court is another set of seats where police officers involved in the case and journalists are sitting.

The legal teams from the prosecution and the defence teams for Chapman and Waring are in position.

The judge, Mr Justice Goose will come in soon.

A large book of sentencing guidelines are to hand.

Although their job has now finished, the jury has been invited back by the judge if they want to be here to hear what the judge has to say.

Five members are sitting in the seats: four women and one man, including the forewoman of the jury who delivered the verdicts yesterday.

It was only last year that the law was changed to allow judges' sentencing remarks to be broadcast live in England and Wales. Scotland's already been doing it for years.

The thinking was that if the public could see the judicial process, they could have more confidence in the system.

In England and Wales, though, only four organisations can film: the BBC, ITN, Sky and PA Media. They have to apply to the judge to film the sentencing remarks of a case.

Even then, broadcasters can only film the remarks made by the most senior judges. So you won't see anyone else in our live stream.

We'll let you know when that feed is going live.

Connor Chapman and Thomas Waring were found guilty by a jury yesterday. Today’s hearing decides their jail sentence.

Sentencing hearings typically start with the prosecution outlining the facts of the case. In this case, prosecution lawyer Nigel Power KC will also set out aggravating factors - reasons why the sentence should be more severe.

This part of a sentencing hearing also often includes victim impact statements - in which those affected explain the impact the crime has had on them. These statements may be read out in person or by the prosecutor - or the judge will acknowledge that they have seen them in advance.

Then each defence barrister will stand up to provide mitigation on behalf of their client, setting out reasons as to why the sentence should be lower.

There may then be a wait while the judge weighs up the arguments on what the sentence should be. Then the judge will read out their remarks and pass sentence - and this is the part which is broadcast from the court.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

More than a dozen members of Elle Edwards’ family have come to court this afternoon.

For the first time, her father Tim is smiling and relaxed. He tells me he slept well last night.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Gaps in community intelligence and a lack of "bobbies on the beat" are thwarting efforts to tackle gang crime in Merseyside, a policing expert has said following the murder conviction of Connor Chapman for shooting Elle Edwards outside a pub on Christmas Eve.

The death of the 26-year-old beautician - an innocent bystander who had simply been having drinks with her friends - was the culmination of a violent feud between two Wirral gangs.

Merseyside Police is attempting to tackle gangs by digging at the grassroots, trying to uncover the reasons why organised crime takes hold in some communities.

They then either remove the gang leaders or try to make it impossible for them to operate.

There is an acceptance from senior officers that it is impossible to simply "arrest" their way out of the problem, though, and that the answers lie within the communities themselves.

They are working to make the area criminals operate in "toxic".

Former senior police officer Peter Williams, a senior lecturer at the Liverpool Centre for Advanced Policing Studies at John Moores University, says "it's been necessary for chief officers to withdraw their neighbourhood teams" since the austerity cuts of 2010, "but that role was a key part of partnership working.

"The void that's in small geographical areas has allowed criminal groups to move in."

Image source, PA

Elle Edwards’ father Tim - who we mentioned in our last post - says his mission is now to stop gun violence on Merseyside.

Tim Edwards said he wanted to do "all I can" to stop the cycle of gun violence in the area.

Last year also saw the fatal shootings of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Ashley Dale and Sam Rimmer.

"We need to be doing something now," he said.

"My focus is to stop another Elle Edwards, another Ashley Dale, another Olivia Pratt-Korbel and if I can be part of something that helps stop these kids doing these horrendous crimes, then I'll do all I can."

He added: "The most powerful thing we have is the sense of community, it's still there in these places."

I think a lot of people maybe are afraid because they're intimidated by these gangs who are hanging around, but if we stick together, we're going to win every time."

Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said there had been a "huge amount of work done" to crackdown on criminal groups but argued more cash was needed to help fight gun violence.

Speaking to the media after the trial, Elle Edwards’s father accused Connor Chapman of being a “coward” for refusing to look at him once during the three-and-a-half week trial.

“We've been through hell,” Tim Edwards said, adding “it's the worst day, but the best of the worst days”.

You can watch his remarks below.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Elle Edwards’ family has arrived at Liverpool Crown Court to hear the sentencing of Connor Chapman and Thomas Waring who were convicted yesterday.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

Image source, Helen Tipper

When a jury is deliberating its verdicts, everyone has to leave the court.

I saw the court usher come out and I was up like a flash.

This was a tell-tale sign. “Verdicts?” I asked.

“Yes,” she whispered.

As the court was reconvened the judge, Mr Justice Goose, turned to the families and told them they were to stay quiet as verdicts were read out.

The foreperson of the jury was asked if they’d reached verdicts on which all of them were agreed. They had.

Tim Edwards, Elle’s father, dropped his head and pinched the top of his nose.

He knew tears were coming.

He was sitting in the public gallery two metres away from me.

The first verdict to be read out was for the charge of murder. The jury delivered its verdict. Guilty.

He couldn’t help it.

“Yesssssss.”

The jury delivered the rest of the verdicts.

The trial had lasted three and a half weeks, the jury had taken just three and a half hours (including a break for lunch) to find the two men guilty of everything they were accused of.

Take them down,” said Justice Goose to the prison officers in the dock.

Chapman who, throughout the trial, had skulked in the far corner in an effort to avoid the stare of Tim Edwards in the public gallery, sloped out, silent.

“Coward,” called Edwards after him, quietly.

Footage showing the moment Connor Chapman shot at a crowd outside a pub on Christmas Eve - killing Elle Edwards and injuring five others - has been released by police.

As we mentioned below, the attack shortly before midnight on 24 December 2022 was the culmination of a gang feud. Edwards was an innocent bystander.

Image source, Family handout

Elle Edwards was an innocent bystander when Connor Chapman opened fire with a sub-machine gun on Christmas Eve last year.

Chapman, who was targeting two men as part of an ongoing gang feud, shot the 26-year-old beautician twice in the head outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral.

Edwards was enjoying a night out with friends and smoking a cigarette outside the pub when she was murdered.

The two intended victims, who were standing near Edwards at the time, were also injured - alongside three other people unconnected to the feud.

Chapman lay in wait outside the pub in a stolen Mercedes for almost three hours before firing the weapon, which was capable of firing 15 rounds a second.

He was tried alongside an associate, Thomas Waring, who was convicted of possession of a prohibited firearm and assisting an offender, after helping Chapman to burn out and destroy the car.