Ashley Dale: Neighbour heard screaming on night of shooting

Ashley Dale worked as an environmental health officer for Knowsley Council

A neighbour of council worker Ashley Dale has described how she heard screaming and swearing on the night she was shot.

The 28-year-old died after she was shot in the Old Swan area of Liverpool on 21 August 2022.

Liverpool Crown Court has heard she was not the intended target as a gunman burst into the home looking for her partner.

Five men are on trial accused of Miss Dale's murder.

James Witham, 41, has admitted her manslaughter but denies murder.

Four other men, Niall Barry, 26, Sean Zeisz, 28, Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, and Joseph Peers, 29 also deny murder.

Miss Dale's neighbour, who cannot be named for legal reasons, earlier told the jury how she was watching television in bed at half past midnight on the night of the shooting.

When asked by Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, what she heard, the neighbour said: "I heard a loud drilling noise."

Ms Dale was found in the back garden of her home on Leinster Road

She said the noise came from "next door".

When asked what happened next she said: "I paused my TV and I heard another drilling noise."

She was able to hear the noise over the sound of her TV, she said.

The neighbour told jurors that two or three seconds after the second noise she heard "a girl scream and then I heard her scream again".

The neighbour said she also heard Miss Dale saying "get out."

Under cross examination by Richard Pratt KC, defending Mr Witham, the neighbour said she was not able to say if the noises and screaming came from indoors or outdoors.

A second neighbour, who also cannot be named, told the court she heard "a loud bang" and screams.

The trial, which is expected to last eight weeks, is being held at Liverpool Crown Court

She said the scream "sounded female in terms of pitch". She also heard car doors slamming and a car moving away.

Under cross examination, the second neighbour agreed that in a witness statement given last August, she said she was "half asleep" at the time.

In a separate witness statement made last August, a third neighbour said "the scream was high pitched as if she was scared and seemed to go on for quite a while".

A fourth neighbour has told the court how after hearing "a massive crash" she went to her back door because she thought she heard someone saying "in a very soft faint voice, 'help me help me'".

The neighbour said it was a young female voice.

"It sounded like somebody was in pain", she said.

She went upstairs to look out of the window but could not see anything, she told the court. Shortly afterwards the police arrived.

The trial continues.

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