Connor Chapman booked a weekend away with "the romance of prosecco and petals" after police called him and urged him to hand himself in, his trial was told.
Police raided the home of Chapman's grandparents in Woodchuch on New Year's Day, eight days after Elle Edwards was shot dead outside the Lighthouse Inn pub in Wallasey Village. Chapman, who stands accused of murdering the 26-year-old beautician in a botched assassination attempt of two rivals, was not at the address.
However, his grandad, Dave McLellan, phoned him and he was urged by a sergeant to give himself up. Prosecutor Nigel Power said: "He didn’t, and he never used that phone again."
READ MORE: Connor Chapman blamed Elle Edwards murder on 'friend' and said he was at home watching YouTube
Chapman, 23, denies killing Ms Edwards, and told Liverpool Crown Court he was at home watching YouTube videos at the time of the shooting. Mr Power added that, following the police raid, Chapman cancelled his plans to travel to Santander in Northern Spain on January 2.
On January 3 he contacted his friend, Thomas Waring, who stands accused of assisting Chapman by disposing of the Mercedes A Class car used in the fatal drive-by shooting. Mr Power said: “On January 9, a woman (who cannot be named for legal reasons) booked Penllwyn Lodges - a holiday home in mid Wales.
"She provided a Connor Chapman number. It was for four nights from the ninth of January. The romance of Prosecco and petals.”
The same woman was driven to Liverpool John Lennon Airport and hired Chapman a Volkswagen T-Cross car, the court was told. Chapman was then seen at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Welshpool.
On January 10, he rang the onsite golf course and complained to the woman “did you give them my number? Cheeky c***s didn’t get my petals and prosecco on ice haha”.
He was arrested that afternoon, along with his girlfriend, at a Tesco supermarket in Newtown. An Under Armour top was seized from the washing machine of his home.
Images of the accommodation where Chapman had been booked to stay were shown to the jury, with a “lamentable lack of rose petals”.
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