The man accused of spraying bullets at a busy pub killing Elle Edwards claimed the real killer was a friend who bought cocaine from his house, and said he was at home watching YouTube at the time.
Connor Chapman, 23, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with the murder of the 26-year-old beautician, who was shot twice in the head as she stood outside the Lighthouse Inn pub in Wallasey Village, on Christmas Eve last year. "Wholly innocent" Elle was smoking a cigarette at the front entrance of the busy pub when the killer, who had been lurking outside for around three hours, fired 12 rounds from a military style Skorpion sub-machine gun at 11.47pm.
Nigel Power, KC, prosecuting, told the jury the gunman was intending to kill two men stood near Elle, rival criminals Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, who suffered serious injuries but survived. The volley of shots also wounded three other innocent bystanders; Harry Loughran, Liam Carr and Nicholas Speed.
READ MORE: Live court updates as Connor Chapman appears charged with Elle Edwards' murder
Elle's family lowered their heads or looked away as harrowing CCTV footage was played to the jury showing the moment Elle was struck by gunfire, before the gunman jumped into a black Mercedes A-Class and drove away from the scene.
Mr Power said: "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."
Mr Power said the Mercedes drove to the home of Thomas Waring, 20, in Private Drive, Barnston. Waring sits alongside Chapman in the dock charged with possession of prohibited weapon and assisting an offender.
The prosecution say Waring called a taxi for Chapman shortly before 4am on Christmas day, which took him back to his home on Houghton Road, Woodchurch. The Mercedes was found burned out in Frodsham, Cheshire, six days later,
As part of the prosecution opening, Mr Power outlined what Chapman told police in interview as part of a prepared statement, and served as part of his defence statement ahead of trial.
The jury heard Chapman accepts he "had access" to the black Mercedes used by the gunman for around three months prior to the shooting, and was involved in burning it. However he claimed others also had access to the car, and an unidentified man borrowed the car earlier on the day of the shooting.
As part of his prepared statement, he told police: "An associate attended [his home] on Houghton Road, he used the Mercedes and I gave him the key. He had also been a frequent driver of the car so I didn't question it. After this I remember watching a YouTube video on my phone. It's possible that this was connected to the Wi-Fi and hopefully if data can be obtained it will show that I was home at the time."
Mr Power said according to his defence statement, outlining his defence at trial, Chapman’s case is that: “He went to Manchester on December 24, 2022, and when he returned home, a friend called him to ask for five bags of cocaine and the key to the stolen car. A different person came to the back of his house to collect the key to the car and three bags of cocaine."
During his police interview, Chapman was asked whether he was willing to identify the person who took the car. Mr Power told the jury: "When asked about who might have taken the car and that that person might have been responsible for Elle Edward’s murder, he replied, 'is that not a good enough reason for me not to give his name. What that person is capable of? I would say it is.'.
The jury were told further details of the feud between groups of criminals based in the Woodchurch estate, where Chapman lived, and the Ford or Beechwood estate, home to Salkeld and Duffy.
Mr Power described two shootings of men from Woodchurch, Curtis Byrne and Kieran Cowley, in December last year, and a savage beating dished out to an alleged associate of Chapman called Sam Searson on December 23. The jury heard Salkeld and Duffy have since pleaded guilty to assaulting Searson.
However Chapman told police he had "no problem" with Salkeld, having "met him a few times", and that he had "grown up" with Duffy. His prepared statement claimed: "Our mums are best friends. Haven't got a problem with him."
The trial continues.
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