Elle Edwards: Woman shot at pub was innocent bystander, jury told

The 26-year-old was fatally injured in the shooting shortly before midnight on 24 December 2022

A woman who was shot outside a pub on Christmas Eve in the culmination of an "ongoing feud" between rival groups was "wholly innocent", a court has heard.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Elle Edwards, 26, died after being shot at the Lighthouse in Wallasey Village, Wirral, on 24 December 2022.

Prosecutor Nigel Power KC said Connor Chapman had been the shooter and had also injured his two intended targets.

The 23-year-old, of no fixed address, denies murder and seven other charges.

About a dozen members of Ms Edwards' family were in court as Mr Power opened the case for the prosecution.

He told the court Ms Edwards was on "an enjoyable night out" with friends at the pub when she went out for a cigarette shortly before midnight.

Footage played to the jury showed a man walk round the corner from the pub's car park and open fire on the group Ms Edwards was stood with.

The court was told the gunman, who Mr Power identified as Mr Chapman, used a Skorpion sub-machine gun, a Czech firearm designed for the security services and the army, and had fatally injured Ms Edwards and hurt five others.

Elle Edwards was on "an enjoyable night out" with friends at the pub when she went outside for a cigarette

Mr Power said the intended targets of the shooting were Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld.

He said although the men were injured, Ms Edwards, who was "a wholly innocent bystander", was hit in the head by two bullets.

He said Mr Chapman had then driven a stolen Mercedes about seven miles (11km) to the home of his friend and co-defendant Thomas Waring, 20, in Barnston, Wirral.

'History of trouble'

In CCTV footage shown to the court, a man, which Mr Power alleged was Mr Chapman, was seen walking towards Mr Waring's house.

He said the man appeared to ruffle his long hair as he walked.

"What we suggest is... as he ruffles his hair, he dislodges the gun that had just carried out the murder, which drops to the floor and then he picks it up," he said.

The prosecutor told the jury the shooting had followed a "history of trouble" between rival groups from the Woodchurch and Ford estates, which lie on either side of the M53 in Wirral.

He outlined a series of events, including injunctions preventing Mr Chapman associating with named individuals, including Mr Duffy and Mr Salkeld, as well as a burglary in November and two shootings in December.

The court heard on 23 December, the day before the shooting, Ford estate residents Mr Duffy and Mr Salkeld had assaulted Sam Searson, who was from the Woodchurch estate.

"What we say it shows is that what otherwise might have been viewed as a random or inexplicable shooting of a wholly innocent woman... was in fact the culmination of an ongoing feud between people from, on the one hand, the Woodchurch estate, and on the other hand, from the Ford Estate," Mr Power said.

About a dozen relatives of Elle Edwards including her father, Tim Edwards, were in court

Mr Chapman denies murder, two counts of attempted murder, three of wounding with intent, and one each of possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.

Mr Waring, of Private Drive in Barnston, Wirral, denies possessing a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender by helping Mr Chapman to dispose of the car.

Graphic CCTV from the crime scene was then replayed to the court.

Mr Power said it showed Mr Chapman lurking in the area for three hours before seeing his target outside the pub, scurrying across the pub car park and opening fire with his weapon.

Ms Edwards could be seen to collapse on top of one of the intended victims, who was also shot, Mr Salkeld.

A post-mortem examination showed Ms Edwards suffered non-survivable injuries, having been shot twice in the head.

Mr Power said DNA evidence linking Mr Chapman to a bullet casing found at the scene was "hugely significant", providing a strong support linking him to the discharged bullet.

The trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, continues.

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