Elle Edwards murder-accused took clothes to woman's house, jury told

Elle Edwards was shot dead outside a pub just before midnight on Christmas Eve

A man accused of shooting a woman outside a pub has told his trial he took his clothes to a woman's house after finding out the police wanted to talk to him.

Connor Chapman denies murdering Elle Edwards at the Lighthouse in Wallasey Village in Wirral, on 24 December.

At Liverpool Crown Court he was asked where the trainers he was seen wearing the day before the shooting were now.

The 23-year-old said: "The prosecution know what happened to my trainers."

Under cross-examination, Mr Chapman said he had put all his clothes in a "Christmas rucksack" and took them to the house of a woman who lives nearby.

'Seize everything'

He refused to name the woman, until he was told reporting restrictions would prevent her identity being revealed.

The defendant told the jury: "It was definitely in January. I went back to the house and got all my stuff from my house."

He said he told the woman he had been kicked out of his house and asked her to keep hold of the bag.

"As far as I was concerned police were going to seize everything off me," he said.

"I wasn't prepared to let them take everything I've gained in the past 12 months."

Connor Chapman, 23, denies murder and seven other charges

He added: "The principle of it was so all of my clothes didn't get seized because I have had all of my clothes seized off me before and you never get them back."

He told the court he did not know he was wanted on suspicion of murder at the time, although he knew police had been to his grandparents' house to look for him.

He said: "If I had known I was wanted for murder then time would have been critical.

"They say, don't they, the first 48 hours to murder."

Mr Chapman was asked why co-defendant Thomas Waring had suggested, through his barrister, that Mr Chapman went to his house following the shooting.

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He said: "I wouldn't really know why Tom would say that.

"In my personal opinion he's got more than enough reason to tell the prosecution what they want to hear."

He accepted going with another person to burn out the stolen Mercedes A Class used in the murder but said Mr Waring had not been there.

Asked who he went to burn the car out with on 31 December, he said: "I'm just finding it hard. There's certain things I can and can't speak on.

"I know it's not acceptable, I understand."

Relatives of Elle Edwards including her father, Tim Edwards, have been attending court

Mr Chapman is accused of having targeted Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld in the shooting in a culmination of a feud between groups on the Woodchurch estate and Beechwood estate, on either side of the M53 in Wirral.

He denies murdering Ms Edwards, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He also denies having a Skorpion sub-machine gun with intent to endanger life and possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Mr Waring, 20, of Private Drive, Barnston, Wirral, denies possessing a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender by helping Mr Chapman dispose of the car.

The trial continues.