The trial of Connor Chapman over the murder of Elle Edwards began this week at Liverpool Crown Court.
The 26-year-old beautician was shot dead outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, on Christmas Eve last year. Five other men - Kieran Salkeld, Jake Duffy, Harry Loughran, Liam Carr and Nicholas Speed - were also struck by gunfire and injured.
Chapman, 23, of Houghton Road in Woodchurch, denies being the gunman or murdering Elle. He has also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Salkeld and Duffy, wounding with intent against Mr Loughran, Mr Carr and Mr Speed and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
READ MORE: Live court updates as Connor Chapman appears charged with Elle Edwards' murder
Alongside him in the dock is 20-year-old Thomas Waring, of Private Drive in Barnston, who denies possession of a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender. This is a summary of what we have heard so far.
Day one - Monday, June 12
The jury of 12 were selected and sworn in, with two reserves also empanelled to hear the opening of the trial. Chapman meanwhile pleaded guilty to a charge of handling stolen goods in relation to a Mercedes A Class car which was used by the gunman, while Waring admitted failing to comply with a disclosure notice after refusing to provide the pin number to his mobile phone to police.
Day two - Tuesday, June 13
Nigel Power, KC, opened the case for the prosecution, telling the court that Elle had stepped outside the Lighthouse for a cigarette shortly before midnight. She was stood with a group including Salkeld, Duffy, Mr Loughran, Mr Speed and Mr Carr. It was then that a man exited a stolen black Mercedes A Class car in the car park and hid behind other parked vehicles, before stepping out and opening fire with a Skorpion submachine gun "designed for the security services and the army".
Salkeld and Duffy were described as being the intended targets, but "wholly innocent" Ms Edwards was stuck in the head by two of the 12 bullets which were fired at the group. The shooting was captured on CCTV footage which was played to the court, and showed her collapsing to the floor and lying motionless thereafter.
Mr Power said the prosecution case is that Chapman was the shooter, who then sped off to his "associate" Waring's house. After parking up on nearby Overdale Avenue, CCTV showed the suspect apparently dropping the gun - which has never been recovered - as he walked over to the address.
Waring had not been home at the time, but arrived in a taxi shortly before 1am. The man alleged to be Chapman would eventually leave in a taxi for home at around 5am.
On New Year's Eve, the Mercedes was driven to a remote site called Hover Force in Frodsham, Cheshire, and burnt out - with both Chapman and Waring said to have been present when the car was torched. Mr Power told the jury: "What otherwise might have been viewed as a random or inexplicable shooting of a wholly innocent woman, Elle Edwards, was in fact the culmination of an ongoing feud between people from the Woodchurch Estate and people from the Ford Estate - which included Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld, who were the intended victims of the shooting."
The gunman lurked in the vicinity of the pub for around three hours before the shooting, having left Woodchurch in the Mercedes - which Chapman accepted he had been driving for around three months - at around 8.45pm. One witness, Jaime Stainton, spotted the gunman moments before the attack and said that, while he had a balaclava covering his eyes, the assailant had "brown hair, sticking out of the top".
Several bullets and casings would later be recovered from the scene. One casing contained a mixed DNA profile, but provided a match for Chapman's DNA.
Duffy would be taken to hospital in a stable condition after being shot in both thighs. He would undergo surgery to repair a damaged artery, but was discharged on December 27.
Salkeld was rushed into intensive care and also underwent surgery. He would make a "slower recovery", eventually being released from hospital on January 7.
Mr Loughran would later tell police that he was using a vape at the front entrance when he "all of a sudden saw someone come around the corner wearing a full face covering". He said he was "spun around" when a bullet hit him in the left forearm, but managed to flee into the pub having only suffered "relatively minor" injuries.
Mr Carr suffered an injury to his left shin, while Mr Speed was the "most lightly injured". He described feeling a pinch in his calf from a bullet, leaving a mark on his skin and a hole in his jeans.
On Boxing Day, a friend of Chapman's called Lewis Hardman booked for them both to travel on ferry from Portsmouth to Santander in Northern Spain on December 30. But this would later be cancelled.
A woman who cannot be named for legal reasons subsequently hired him a Volkswagen T-Cross car from a rental office at Liverpool John Lennon Airport and booked a "romantic getaway with rose petals and Prosecco" for him at Penllwyn Lodges in Mid-Wales. It would be during this trip that he would be arrested at a Tesco supermarket in Newtown on January 10.
Under interview, Chapman gave a pre-prepared statement detectives and claimed to have been at home watching YouTube on his phone on the evening of December 24. He said that others had access to the Mercedes.
Of Salkeld, he stated he "didn't have any problem with him" while he said he had "grown up with" Duffy and described their mums as being "best friends". Chapman claimed to have been "disgusted" by news of the shooting.
Mr Power said that he is expected to say in his defence case that a friend phoned him "to ask for five bags of cocaine and the key to the stolen car" after he returned from Manchester on Christmas Eve. He then alleges that a "different person" arrived and collected three bags of cocaine and the key.
Waring meanwhile was said to maintain that he did not see a firearm upon returning home in the early hours of Christmas Eve. He also denies having been involved in the disposal of the car.
Day three - Wednesday, June 15
The jury of seven women and five men began to hear the evidence in the trial, first addressing events in the lead up to Christmas Eve. The court heard that the Mercedes A Class was stolen from a house in Leyland, Lancashire, following an 18th birthday party on September 9 last year.
On October 26, an injunction was served on Chapman by police "to prevent gang-related violence". This prevented him from associating with several named individuals including Declan McGowan, Samuel Searson, Kane Weston, Duffy and Salkeld and from entering the Woodchurch and Beechwood Estates - including his home address in the former.
Its terms also banned him from "threatening to use violence and directly or indirectly engaging in threatening or abusive conduct", being in possession of class A or B drugs or equipment for use in the manufacture or distribution of such substances, owning or possessing more than one mobile phone or SIM card, having a phone or SIM where the number has not been disclosed to the force or riding or being a passenger on an electric scooter, quad bike, motorbike, or scrambler bike within Merseyside. On November 16, the injunction was extended to be in place "until further order" under the same terms.
In the early hours of November 28, a house on Thirlmere Avenue in Noctorum was burgled. CCTV showed three males in the garden and shed, from which they stole two electric bikes.
Curtis Byrne and Mason Smith have both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit burglary, including in relation to this break-in. Video footage from Smith's phone showed them in the company of Chapman "in the immediate aftermath" with the stolen bikes.
On the evening of December 3, Byrne was injured in a shooting on Orrets Meadow Road in Woodchurch. Police received reports of gunshots being fired and screams shortly after 8pm.
One witness "heard a loud bang which sounded like a gunshot". An unknown male then knocked at their door and shouted: "Help me, ring an ambo."
Byrne was taken to Aintree Hospital after being shot in the right leg, but "refused to assist the investigation". Footage showed that his attacker had been travelling on a motorised scooter, but the shooter "has not been and cannot be identified".
Crime scene investigators recovered a bullet casing, from which they were able to identify a Glock-type self-loading pistol as being the weapon used during the shooting. The same firearm was then used to shoot Kieran Cowley 15 days later on December 18.
Prior to this, a Ford Kuga car was stolen from the driveway of a house on December 6. It would later be found partially burnt out in the early hours of December 19.
On December 16, Duffy was seen on CCTV in the vehicle in a library car park with two other men - one of whom was identified as William Duggan. That afternoon, an Amazon delivery driver reported that his van was stolen while he was dropping off a parcel on Frankby Road.
He reported that two males with their faces covered got out of a the Ford Kuga and into his vehicle and drove away after he had left the keys in the ignition. Mobile phone footage recorded on Pennystone Close in Upton then showed the thieves, of which two were said to be Duggan and Duffy, moving packages from the van and into the car.
Two days later, Cowley was shot on Newark Close in Noctorum. Merseyside Police received reports of gunshots being fired shortly before 9.15pm on December 18 and an injured man crashing into a house.
A woman who placed a 999 call also stated she had seen a "male in a black hoodie holding a small handgun". Officers attended and located a black Mercedes SUV at the scene.
Cowley presented at Arrowe Park Hospital at 9.40pm with a towel wrapped around his arm, stating that he had been stabbed. But Ms Appleton said: "He had, in fact, been shot."
He would go on to tell police that he had been at a friend's house having a takeaway and watching Christmas film Home Alone 2. But, upon leaving, a "Jeep full of males" was said to have pulled up alongside him.
Cowley stated that he had tried to squeeze his car past a set of bollards at this point, but crashed. The men then got out of the other vehicle and "approached both sides of his vehicle, and all he could hear were loud noises".
He then "curled up in a ball to protect himself", saying he "did not know who was responsible or why he was targeted". CCTV footage showed one offender smashing the windscreen with a pole before running away, with others also seen damaging the car.
Spent bullet casings discovered nearby and in the car itself and allowed police to identify the firearm used as being a Glock-type self-loading pistol, that used in the shooting of Byrne. The Ford Kuga was said to have been "responsible for the attack".
On December 23, Searson was riding a bicycle on Highfield Road in Rock Ferry when a vehicle approached. Salkeld exited from the front passenger seat and ran after him before both he and Duffy dished out a beating. A Ring doorbell captured them punching, kicking and stamping on the head of their victim - who suffered "severe" facial injuries and attended Arrowe Park Hospital.
The footage was played to the court, with a woman heard telling the attackers: “Leave him now, just stop it. Pack it in now, f*** off.”
One of the assailants replied: “Mind your own business. He’s a little ken robber."
The jury were shown photographs of Searson's injuries - being pictured with black eyes and abrasions to his head and body, while he appeared to have had medical treatment to a wound above his right eye. Both Salkeld and Duffy have since pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding in relation to the incident.
That evening, Chapman and Waring were said to have travelled from the Wirral to North Wales. They were said to have spend around half an hour at Robin Hood Holiday Park in Rhyl before making the return journey back to Merseyside.
On Christmas Eve, they went shopping in the Arndale Centre in Manchester - visiting stores including Footasylum, the Entertainer and Pandora. Elle Edwards meanwhile went to the Lighthouse pub at around 5.30pm.
A statement from her younger sister Lucy was read to the jury. In it, she said they had also visited on December 24 the previous year and "wanted to make it a Christmas tradition".
At one stage, they left to buy bottles of wine from a nearby shop but returned. The sisters then moved to the Nelson pub after "boys in the pub" kept "swilling" a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, with drinks - with "Scouse Kieran" having been telling them to do so.
Elle subsequently dropped Lucy at home in her car before going back to the Lighthouse once more. Her statement added: “When I got out the car, I told Elle not to be late so as not to ruin Christmas. She said she wouldn't and she’d be about an hour."
She later texted Elle saying: "Hey? Get home."
But the message was never read. Lucy was woken by her brother George "saying Elle had been shot" and learned in hospital that she had died.
Day four - Thursday, June 16
The jury were shown footage of the Mercedes moving around the Lighthouse pub before the shooting, and the driver emerging and passing the car-park. The prosecution highlighted how the driver's red gloves were visible in the footage.
The jury also saw and heard recordings of a witness called Jaime Stanton, who was stood in the carpark a few yards from the gunman when he opened fire.
Ms Stanton called 999 and was also spoken to by PC Mathew Titley who attended the scene, an interaction recorded on his body-worn camera. That footage showed Ms Stanton was in obvious distress when she explained to PC Titley what she had seen.
The jury heard her tell the officer: "He was hiding round the corner, I just thought he was going to throw a bottle. I knew he was going to do something but I didn’t know it was a gun."
She described how she was "threw off" by the fact the item in the gunman's hands had a “thing on the end” which she described as "like a propeller or a fan".
PC Titley said: "You didn't realise it was a gun did you?"
She replied: “No it was so strange. He looked like this round the corner, it was targeted, in my opinion it was targeted, he looked round the corner to see who was there....He looked me dead in the eyes. I wanted to say to the people… watch out, but I couldn’t because he would have shot me.
"He turned back round, it was that quick, and then it was like bang, bang, bang, bang....Everyone was screaming, I just saw those people fall to the floor."
Ms Stanton described the gunman as "having brown hair for definite" sticking out of the top of his hood and balaclava.
The jury also heard statements from other witnesses, including a nurse, Rachael Kelly, who performed CPR on Elle Edwards. She said: "The first few days after the incident I was still in major shock. Even though I am a nurse this is nothing you can ever prepare for. I have since been signed off work on compassionate grounds.”
Statements from and the three other innocent bystanders who were wounded by the shooting were read by junior counsel for the prosecution, Katy Appleton.
One of them, Harry Loughran, said: "All of a sudden I saw someone walk around the corner, they were wearing a full face covering. I could only see their eyes. They raised a gun and pointed it in the direction I was stood, I heard a loud bang and was spun around by the force of it hitting my forearm."
Other witnesses described trying to help Kieron Salkeld and Jake Duffy with their serious injuries, including wrapping a belt around Duffy's thigh, where a bullet had "narrowly missed his testicles", to stem the bleeding.
The prosecution called evidence about Chapman's comments to police officers before and after his arrest. One witness, Merseyside Police Sergeant Alan O'Shaugnessy, said he had attended Chapman's grandparents' home in Woodland Road, Woodchurch, on New Year's Day, to execute a search warrant.
During the search, Chapman's grandad, David McLellan, agreed to call him so the officer could speak to him. He told the jury he explained he had been asked to relocate Chapman's grandparents while a search was being carried out, and asked him to hand himself in to be arrested an questioned "for a serious matter", which Chapman declined to do.
Mark Rhind, KC, representing Chapman, suggested that Sgt O'Shaugnessy had not mentioned anything about his client being arrested as a "white lie" to get him to come in. However the officer refuted that and stressed he had informed Chapman the investigation team wanted to arrest him.
The jury also heard from PC Sam Gates of Dyfed-Powys Police in Wales, who observed Chapman in the local custody suite after he was arrested at a Tesco in Newtown. He described how Chapman said he was "not fussed" about being arrested for murder as detectives in Merseyside "had nothing on me".
PC Gates, who made a written note of Chapman's comments at the time, told the jury he also said: "Gun crime is at an all time high and some people are ruthless, there is a time and place for that shit. He also said he saw the clip of the gunshots on the news and it sounded like an automatic firing 13 shots, not six or seven like the newspapers were saying."
Mr Rhind suggested that the comments were just part of five hours of "general conversation" which included remarks about how he had "changed his life" .
Day five - Friday, June 17
The trial did not sit on Friday. It will resume on Monday, and is due to last a further two to three weeks.
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