A jury heard the last words between Elle Edwards and her sister before she was gunned down outside a pub on Christmas Eve.
Popular beautician Elle, 26, was struck twice in the head as she stood at the front entrance of the Lighthouse pub, Wallasey Village, while smoking a cigarette. CCTV footage revealed the gunman had loitered outside for around three hours before firing 12 shots with a military style Skorpion sub-machine gun.
Connor Chapman, 23, has been charged with her murder as well as attempting to murder two men, Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, who were allegedly the "intended targets" of the shooting. He is also charged with wounding three other innocent bystanders; Harry Loughran, Liam Carr and Nicholas Speed, who were also standing outside.
READ MORE: Live court updates as Connor Chapman stands trial for Elle Edwards' murder
Chapman denies being the gunman and has claimed he was at his home in Houghton Road, Woodchurch, at the time of the shooting.
Nigel Power, KC, prosecuting, has told a jury Elle was the "wholly innocent" victim of a violent feud between rival gangs based around the Woodchurch estate and the Beechwood/Ford estate in Wirral. The jury heard Salkeld and Duffy, from the Beechwood area, had dished out a violent beating to a associate of Chapman, Sam Searson, the day before the shooting.
Two other men connected to the Woodchurch area, Curtis Byrne and Kieron Cowley, had been injured in shootings earlier in December which had also been linked to the feud.
On Wednesday the jury heard Lucy Edwards, who worked in Dubai as an events hostess, had arrived back in the UK six days before her sister was fatally injured.
Katy Appleton, junior counsel for the prosecution, read a statement made by Lucy, in which she described how she had celebrated with her family in the days since her return from Dubai. She said: "We had gone [to the Lighthouse] the year before and enjoyed ourselves. We wanted to make it a Christmas tradition, although we had ruined Christmas the previous year as we were both hungover.
“Elle was not that enthusiastic as she had been hungover since the Wednesday before when we went to the Christmas markets with our dad."
CCTV footage shown to the jury showed Elle arriving at the pub on the afternoon of December 24, where she is seen appearing in good spirits, hugging friends and chatting.
Ms Edwards said there was some "trouble" because a man in the pub had been throwing drinks over a woman who cannot be identified for legal reasons, encouraged by a man she referred to as "Scouse Kieran".
Her group believed the pub may be closing due to the trouble, so decided to move on to the Nelson pub, where Lucy Edwards began feeling sleepy. Later on a friend messaged the group to say the Lighthouse was in fact still open, so they decided to return.
However Lucy asked Elle to drop her off at home. Her statement said: "When I got out the car I told Elle not to be late so not to ruin Christmas. She said she wouldn't and she’d be about an hour."
Lucy said later that evening she realised Elle was still not back, and sent her a text message saying “Hey? Get home”. That message was never read.
In the morning, she was awoken by her brother George, who told her Elle had been shot. The family made their way to the hospital, where they were told Elle had died.
Chapman has pleaded not guilty to murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He has pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods in relation to the black Mercedes car used by the gunman to travel to and from the scene.
A second man, 20-year-old Thomas Waring of Private Drive, Barnston, is also on trial having pleaded not guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender in relation to Elle's murder.
The trial continues.
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