A dog walker spotted the burned out husk of a stolen Mercedes car used in the murder of Elle Edwards.
The Mercedes A-Class was driven to the Lighthouse pub, Wallasey Village, by a man who then sprayed the busy front entrance with 12 bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun.
Elle, 26, was outside smoking a cigarette and chatting, shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve, when she was struck twice in the head and once on the shoulder. Five other men were also wounded but survived their injuries.
READ MORE: Live court updates as Connor Chapman stands trial for Elle Edwards' murder
Connor Chapman, 23, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with Elle's murder. He also denies attempting to murder two of the men shot - Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy - who the prosecution allege were his intended targets.
Today the jury heard a statement from a woman called Virgina Kerr, who was walking her dogs around Grassy Lane, Frodsham, at around 1.05pm on Sunday, January 1. Ms Kerr said she noticed a car "burned right down to the metal" on the lane.
The Mercedes was recovered by police, and the jury heard on January 16, a PC Lee Birmingham attended an approved police recovery premises to examine a vehicle destroyed by fire. PC Birmingham said the husk was identifiable by shape as a newer class of Mercedes.
The jury heard a stamped ink number (SIN) was still visible on the chassis, which identified its true registration number and model.
Nigel Power, KC, prosecuting, talked the jury through a journey made by the Mercedes in convoy with another silver vehicle, also a Mercedes, on New Year's Eve. He told the jury that Chapman accepts he had access to the black Mercedes for around three months before the shooting, and that he also accepts driving to Frodsham to destroy it. However the jury has also been told Chapman will claim someone else borrowed the vehicle on the night Elle was killed.
CCTV was played showing Chapman arriving on foot at the Horse and Jockey pub in Upton at 7.26pm on New Year's Eve, where he collected the grey Mercedes GLC from a man who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The jury were talked through what happened next, as recorded by CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras along the roadways of Wirral and Cheshire. Chapman drove that vehicle to Private Drive in Barnston, the area where the gunman parked the stolen black Mercedes after the shooting.
The second man on trial, 20-year-old Thomas Waring, lives on Private Drive and is accused of travelling with Chapman from his home to Frodsham, which he denies.
Mr Power and witness Detective Constable Steven Duke talked the jury through footage showing the grey Mercedes GLC, which was fitted with false number plates during the journey, and the black Mercedes "travelling in convoy" towards Cheshire.
Mr Power said analysis of mobile phone cell site date showed that two handsets attributed to both Chapman and Waring appeared to travel with the vehicles, although Waring denies he was using that phone at the time.
CCTV from the Grassy Lane area showed a white flash in a distant corner, which DC Duke explained was the black Mercedes being torched.
The grey Mercedes GLC was then driven back to Chapman's home address in Houghton Road, Woodchurch, where it was picked up on the afternoon of January 1 by the same man who met Chapman at the Horse and Jockey pub.
The trial continues.
READ NEXT:
Manchester United's response after swaggering fan wore vile Hillsborough shirt to match
Mum given year to live after suffering cramp in leg while driving
