The man accused of assisting Connor Chapman to burn out a car used in the shooting of Elle Edwards will not give evidence in his trial.
Thomas Waring, 20, is charged with assisting an offender and possession of a prohibited weapon and has been in the dock besides Chapman at Liverpool Crown Court. Chapman, 23, denies being the man who fired 12 shots at the 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. The prosecution case alleges that Chapman was intending to kill two of those men - Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy - as part of a violent gang feud.
READ MORE: Elle Edwards latest: Live updates as Connor Chapman trial enters final stages
The jury has heard that the killer drove to Wallasey Village in a stolen black Mercedes A-Class car, which Chapman accepts was parked close to his home, and then used the same vehicle to drive to Private Drive in Barnston after the shooting - the home address of his friend Waring.
The jury has heard phones attributed to Chapman and Waring "co-located" with the stolen Mercedes on New Year's Eve, during a journey to an isolated spot in Frodsham, Cheshire, where it was burned out.
Chapman's case is that he was at his home address in Houghton Road, Woodchurch, all night on Christmas Eve and never set foot in Wallasey Village or Private Drive. He claims a man he is refusing to name attended his address on Christmas Eve to borrow the stolen Mercedes, which was a "pool car" generally used by drug dealers including Chapman.
Chapman has accepted helping to burn out the car, telling the jury he realised he was "forensically linked" to the car used in the shooting. He did tell the jury that Waring was not present on the journey, and that the man he is refusing to name had borrowed Waring's phone.
Yesterday, the jury heard that Waring had instructed his barrister, William England, to suggest to Chapman that he did indeed travel to Private Drive after midnight on the night of the shooting and left in a taxi shortly before 5am on Christmas morning.
Chapman, asked by prosecution counsel Nigel Power, KC, why Waring would ask his barrister to make those suggestions, said he "may be under pressure" from others or was trying to "get a more lenient sentence".
Today, after Chapman's barrister, Mark Rhind, KC, formally closed his client's case, Mr England was asked whether he planned to call any evidence.
Mr England rose and told the jury: “I won’t be calling Thomas Waring to give evidence.”
Trial judge, Mr Justice Goose, said: “This is the stage of his case where he has the opportunity to give evidence. He may do so or decline to do so. You have had the opportunity to give Thomas Waring advice?”
Mr England confirmed he had. Justice Goose said: "Is he aware that it may be open to the jury, if they feel it is proper, to hold that against him when they decide their verdicts in due course?”
Mr England replied: “My Lord, I have."
The judge explained to the jury that was the last of the evidence they will hear in the trial, and they will later hear legal directions and closing speeches from the prosecution and defence teams.
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.
