Ashley Dale: Murder accused 'had no authority to order killing'

The trial has heard Ashley Dale was not the intended target of the shooting

A man accused of murdering a woman in her home has denied he ordered the killing and told a court he had "no authority to send anyone" anywhere.

Ashley Dale, 28, died after she was shot at her house in Old Swan, Liverpool, on 21 August 2022.

The trial of five men accused of her murder at Liverpool Crown Court has heard her partner had been the intended target, due to a feud with Niall Barry.

Mr Barry told the jury he was not the leader of an organised crime gang.

The 26-year-old and four other men deny murder, conspiracy to murder and firearms offences, while a sixth man denies assisting an offender.

Giving evidence, Mr Barry accepted he had a "fall out" with Ms Dale's partner Lee Harrison and admitted that in the past he had been able to source a Skorpion machine gun.

The court has heard James Witham, who has admitted the manslaughter of Ms Dale, was in a flat on Pilch Lane in Huyton with Mr Barry and three other co-defendants before the shooting and returned there afterwards.

'I never would'

Cross-examining Mr Barry, prosecutor Paul Greaney KC suggested there were two possibilities to what happened.

"The first [is] that a man left your company to attack the home of a man, who was someone you had fallen out with, with the type of firearm you had had access to, but all of that is entirely coincidental?" he said.

"The second possibility is that you commissioned the attack in your role as leader of an organised crime group that dealt in drugs and had access to firearms?"

Mr Barry said he was "not the leader of no organised crime group and I've got no authority to send anyone to anyone's house and I never would and I didn't".

"That's the truth," he added.

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

He told the court he was dealing in drugs worth tens of thousands of pounds, but denied that Mr Witham had been working for him.

The court heard he and Mr Witham had gone to Glastonbury together in 2022 and had been stopped by police outside the festival.

The jury was told officers found a knife in a bag which also contained Mr Barry's passport, but Mr Witham said it belonged to him.

Mr Greaney said that was "an example, I suggest, of Mr Witham taking the blame for something that was your responsibility because he is, or was, your lackey".

He added that Mr Witham was Mr Barry's "joey", a term used for someone who does a person's bidding.

Mr Barry replied that was not the case "at all", adding: "Mr Witham's a 40-year-old man, he's not my joey."

Mr Barry, Mr Witham, 41, Sean Zeisz, 28, Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, and Joseph Peers, 29, deny the murder of Ms Dale, conspiracy to murder Mr Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, and ammunition.

Kallum Radford, 26, denies assisting an offender.

The trial continues.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]