![](https://static.standard.co.uk/2023/01/31/10/31104009-c60d9f2a-eaa8-4ddd-9aa6-d04e67de3c67.jpg?width=460&auto=webp)
Two men have been charged with the murder of a council worker who was shot in her back garden last summer.
Ashley Dale, 28, was found with a gunshot wound at her home in Old Swan, Liverpool shortly before 1am on August 21.
She was taken to hospital but later died.
On Tuesday Merseyside Police said James Witham, 40, of Ashbury Road, Huyton and Joseph Peers, 28, of Woodlands Road, Roby, had been charged with murder and possession of a firearm with intent.
They are due to appear at Wirral adult remand court on Tuesday.
A 25-year-old man from St Helens who has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender remains in custody.
Ms Dale, an environmental health officer for Knowsley Council, is not believed to have been the intended target of the shooting.
Her death was one of three gun killings within a week in Liverpool last year, with nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel killed in her home in Dovecot on August 22 and 22-year-old Sam Rimmer shot in Dingle on August 16.