Gunman Connor Chapman will spend at least 48 years behind bars for the murder of Elle Edwards on Christmas Eve last year.
Chapman murdered the 26-year-old beautician when he opened fire outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey in Wirral, hitting Ms Edwards twice in the head and injuring five others.
The 23-year-old was convicted of murder on Thursday after a three-and-a-half week trial at Liverpool Crown Court and was today handed a life sentence at the same court. Ms Edwards’ family shouted “scumbag” and “rat” as he was sent down by the judge, Mr Justice Goose.
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The court heard how his intended targets were Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld, who were also injured when he fired 12 shots from the Skorpion sub-machine gun before driving away from the scene in a stolen Mercedes.
Mr Justice Goose described CCTV footage of the shooting as “utterly shocking”. He said: “What you did, Connor Chapman, to those six victims, was as wicked as it was shocking. You murdered Elle Edwards, bringing an end to her young life.”
He added: “Your intention was to murder Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld, but you didn’t care who else would be killed, that’s why you fired all the bullets at the group. I’m satisfied that you are a highly dangerous man.”
The jury also convicted Chapman of 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, as well as possession of a Skorpion sub-machine gun with intent to endanger life and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He pleaded guilty before the trial to a charge of handling stolen goods and admitted going to burn out the car used in the shooting on December 31.
Chapman was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences, with a minimum term of 48 years for murder and 22 years for attempted murder.
Co-defendant Thomas Waring, 20, whose house Chapman went to following the shooting, was convicted of possession of a prohibited firearm and assisting an offender, by helping to burn out the Mercedes. He pleaded guilty before trial to a charge of failing to comply with a disclosure notice and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Nigel Power KC, prosecuting, said the murder was the culmination of a gang feud in Wirral, where there had been nine shootings in 2022. He said Chapman had recorded a rap video while in custody last year after an aggravated burglary at his mother’s home.
In the video, he made comments including: “If I make it out of here I’m due to become famous because if you touch one of mine, I’ll leave your soul on the pavement.” He also said: “I know I’ve been a scumbag but I’m proud of that.”
He told the court Chapman’s brother Lewis had been shot with a Skorpion, although a different weapon to the one which killed Ms Edwards, in August 2022 but refused to co-operate with the police investigation.
Statements from Ms Edwards’ father Tim, brother Connor and grandmother Susan were read to the court. A paragraph from her mother, Gaynor, was included in Mr Edwards’ statement in which she said: “First of all I want to know why have you done this, what drove you to do this to my daughter? Since Elle has been gone I have never been the same, I can’t accept that she has gone. I still think she’ll come home.”
Her grandmother said: “If I were to die tomorrow, the coroner would write on my death certificate ’cause of death: she died of a broken heart’.”
Mark Rhind KC said there was “very little” mitigation and said: “I cannot suggest there is remorse.” He said Chapman had two children, one of whom he had never met, and they would be middle-aged by the time he was released.
Speaking outside court, Ms Edwards’ father Tim said: “The amount of people involved in this investigation from day one has been remarkable and they did not give up. They were relentless in achieving the goal which was to get justice for Elle and catch the killer. Thankfully now he’s got 48 years and hopefully he never sees Christmas again.
“If I’m lucky enough to still be around for a long time yet I will do my best to make sure he never comes out. Things need to change and we’ve made a start with that. I think, 48 years, if you think of picking up a gun now you should think twice about it.
