The gunman who killed Elle Edwards could have been "any other member" of the Woodchurch estate gang, a court heard today.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court is hearing closing speeches in the trial of Connor Chapman, 23, who is accused of firing 12 shots at a group stood in front of the Lighthouse Pub, Wallasey Village, shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve.
Elle, 26, was struck twice in the head by bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun, while five men were also injured including alleged "intended targets" Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy.
READ MORE: Elle Edwards latest: Live updates as Connor Chapman trial enters final stages
Earlier lead counsel for the prosecution, Nigel Power, KC, suggested in his closing speech that the "CCTV evidence alone" was enough to make the jury sure of Chapman's guilt, and added it was "supported by layer upon layer" of other evidence.
The prosecution case is that the shooting was the "culmination" of a violent feud between a crime group based around the Woodchurch estate, where Chapman lives, and the Ford/Beechwood estate, home to Salkeld and Duffy. The jury has heard two men Chapman was associated with, Curtis Byrne and Kieran Cowley, were shot in the weeks before Elle was killed.
The day before the murder, Salkeld and Duffy were recorded on a Ring doorbell camera delivering a severe beating to a man called Sam Searson, also allegedly linked to the Woodchurch group.
Mark Rhind, KC, representing Chapman, suggested that there was no evidence Chapman was involved in any revenge plot. He said: "There isn’t evidence of Connor Chapman being involved in any of this. Mr Power talks about these being Connor Chapman’s enemies and asked him about how everything stopped when he was locked up.
"It can’t sensibly be suggested he’s responsible for the attacks by that Ford gang, nor is there any reason Connor Chapman would seem to want to be involved in this save for the suggestion he’s somehow involved in this Woodchurch group.
"But let’s say this is a tit for tat. Let’s say the prosecution are right and that’s the motivation for the attack at the Lighthouse. That doesn’t tell us who did it.
"Whoever did it is likely to be one of a number of young men associated with the Woodchurch estate. A number of young men who might all share the same connections that Connor Chapman shares."
Mr Rhind referred to co-defendant Thomas Waring, 20, of Private Drive in Barnston, who is accused of assisting an offender by helping his "friend" Chapman to burn out the stolen black Mercedes A-Class car used in the shooting, and storing the murder weapon.
He said: "They might all know Thomas Waring, they might live in the same area, they might travel in the same cars, they might go to the same addresses. The connections the prosecution say can only be attributed to Connor Chapman might, you might think, apply to any one of a number of young men who share that Woodchurch group the prosecution say are involved in this."
Mr Rhind referred to calls from a man who cannot be identified for legal reasons on a phone number ending in 6018, received by Chapman on the night of the killing. During his evidence, Chapman told the jury that this man made arrangements to use the stolen black Mercedes, which he claimed was a "pool car" used by a himself and a number of other people for drug-dealing.
The jury has heard this man, whose phone the prosecution highlighted was connected to a cell-site in Belle Vale at 9.45pm on Christmas Eve, was also in contact with Sam Searson on the night of the murder.
Mr Rhind said: "It is not contested he is the gunman. What is contested is that somehow he’s involved in that triangle of calls. He’s the man Connor Chapman says rang asking for the keys to the car. The person he speaks to straight after that is Sam Searson, at the heart of this. In that Woodchurch group.
"The man who might be keen or keenest for revenge. Sam Searson talking to (the man using the 6018 number) who Chapman says has just asked for the keys to the car."
Mr Rhind said he acknowledged that Chapman had led a criminal lifestyle, telling the jury: "Decide where the evidence leads you. Connor Chapman, the type of person he is, makes that job even harder. He has done nothing good in his life, has he? He’s wasted it, being a thorough nuisance to his community and the people who lived there. You name it, he’s done it."
However he added: "Whatever he’s done in the past, however awful he’s been, it’s nothing compared to these present allegations. It is off the scale. It is chalk and cheese.
“You don’t like him. You don’t like his lifestyle choices, You don’t like his previous behaviour. That doesn’t mean he’s any more likely to be guilty than otherwise. Focus on the evidence."
Mr Rhind will conclude his speech tomorrow.
Chapman - of Houghton Road in Woodchurch - denies Elle's murder, attempting to murder Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, wounding with intent against Liam Carr and Harry Loughran, assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Nicholas Speed and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
