The gunman who murdered beautician Elle Edwards in a botched gangland shooting recorded a chilling rap video from prison in which he vowed deadly revenge on his enemies.
Connor Chapman, 23, was jailed for at least 48 years for the Christmas Eve murder during a sentencing hearing on Friday.
The details of the verse, which was recovered by detectives from a mobile phone, were not heard by the jury during his trial and were only aired during his sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court.
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On Thursday, Chapman was convicted of the murder of 26-year-old Elle outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village late on Christmas Eve last year. Elle was struck in the head by two of 12 bullets fired from a Skorpion sub-machine gun at a group of people outside the pub's front entrance, reports The Liverpool Echo.
His intended targets, gang members Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, were seriously wounded but survived, while three other men described as "innocent bystanders" were also injured.
During the three and a half week trial, the jury heard about "precursor" events leading up to the incident, relating to a feud between Chapman's Woodchurch estate based gang and a rival group based around the Beechwood estate, home to Salkeld and Duffy.
However evidence about the rap was considered inadmissible. At the time he recorded the video, in February 2022, Chapman was in prison on remand awaiting trial for attempted murder. Chapman was later acquitted of that charge, relating to a shooting in Birkenhead in 2019, and the jury did not hear about that case.
Today Nigel Power, KC, prosecuting, highlighted Chapman's "attitude towards gun crime" as an aggravating feature of his offending.
He said: “We submit all of the aggravating features we have described come into play. We emphasise particularly the complex and deliberate planning, the fact the defendant intended to kill at least two people, that he fired 12 separate deliberate shots, he took significant steps to avoid detection, he implicated other people who could not have committed the murder, he has displayed no remorse and the defendant’s attitude to serious gun crime generally are features to which the court should pay attention."
Mr Power said during his time in custody and before the video was made the home of Chapman's mum was violently burgled, an incident for which he vowed violent revenge.
Read from a transcript of Chapman's words, Mr Power said: "You can chat a bro today and we’ll chat a bro again. Cos these roads are getting sticky and they wanna see us dead. All I wish for me brothers is freedom, health and wealth. And if it (inaudible) put this to bed but they ran up on me mum, that’s one thing they will regret.
"An’ I promised her one thing they’re never touchin’ her again. Repercussions, bigger actions, off with his head and little did he know he’d just signed his own death, we’d have got his mum touched but she’s already in hell so I’ll p*** on her grave and fill her casket up with shells and, if it gets fixed then I'm doin’ it again and I'll pull up to your funeral let off on all your friends."
In another section Chapman rapped "I know I've been a scumbag but I'm proud of that s***". He referred to his Nan wanting him to get out of prison, and again made another chilling violent threat.
Chapman rapped: "[My Nan] never prayed in her life but she prays that I'm home. these are the words, everything that I wrote, I said nan gotta go only get two hours of soash [social]. but it plays on me mind
"Everythin' that she spoke. I love me brother ‘C’ tho' I’m glad that he made it. If I make it outta of here I’m due to be somethin’ famous. because if you touch one of mine I'll leave your soul on the pavement."
Elsewhere, the court heard that In 2022, there were 49 illegal firearms discharges in Merseyside. Five of those ended in death, including Elle.
Nine occurred in the Wirral, and Mr Power, referring to information provided by Merseyside Police, said "during that period of time sub-machine guns have become a weapon of choice for organised crime groups in the region, including the Ford and Woodchurch organised crime groups".
He said Skorpion sub-machine guns were used to murder three people last year, including Elle. Referring to the shooting, he said: "[Chapman] armed himself with that gun capable of discharging many many bullets per second.
“The timing at 11.57pm on Christmas Eve, at the entrance of a busy public house where it was inevitable other people would be hit by bullets. All six hit with bullets might have been killed."
Chapman was handed three life sentences, with an overall minimum term of 48 years before he is eligible to apply for parole. His accomplice, 20-year-old Thomas Waring, was jailed for nine years for assisting an offender by helping Chapman burn out his getaway car. He was also convicted of possession of a prohibited weapon after keeping hold of the Skorpion gun after the murder.
