Connor Chapman will tonight be sat in a cell on day one of his 48 year sentence for the reckless and senseless murder of Elle Edwards.
On Thursday July 6 he was convicted of the murder of Elle Edwards after spraying the front entrance of the Lighthouse Pub, Wallasey Village, with 12 bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve last year.
A jury of seven women and five men reached unanimous verdicts after three hours and 48 minutes of deliberation. Nigel Power, KC, prosecuting, had told Liverpool Crown Court the astonishingly reckless attack was the "culmination" of a vicious tit-for-tat feud between gangs based around the Woodchurch estate, where Chapman lived, and the Ford/Beechwood estate, home to his intended targets Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy.
READ MORE: Elle Edwards' dad says 'scumbag' Connor Chapman has 'not shown ounce of remorse'
His criminal accomplice, Thomas Waring of Private Drive, Barnston, was convicted of assisting an offender and possession of a prohibited weapon.
This is a timeline of events leading to those devastating shots fired at the Lighthouse pub on Christmas Eve.
Precursor events
June 29, 2022: Chapman is released from custody after being cleared of unrelated offences
October 26, 2022: Merseyside Police serve Chapman with an interim gang injunction order, to prevent gang-related violence. It includes requirements not to enter the Woodchurch or Beechwood estates and not to associate with named individuals: including Jake Duffy, Kieran Salkeld and Sam Searson.
November 16, 2022: An officer meets Chapman in a McDonald’s car-park to serve a further gang injunction, under similar terms.
November 28, 2022: Chapman is involved in a burglary with two other men, Curtis Byrne and Mason Smith, stealing two electric bikes from the shed of a property on Thirlmere Avenue, Birkenhead.
December 3 2022: Curtis Byrne is shot in the leg with a Glock handgun on Orrets Meadow Road in the Woodchurch estate. As he is treated in hospital, police seize his phone which reveals a video of Chapman, Byrne and Smith bragging about the burglary
December 16, 2022: Jake Duffy, from the Beechwood estate, is seen in a stolen Ford Kuga car.
December 18 2022: Kieran Cowley is shot outside a property on Newark Close, Noctorum, near the house of Mason Smith, with the same Glock pistol used to shoot Byrne. The same Ford Kuga car Duffy was spotted in is linked to the incident.
December 23 2022: Sam Searson, linked to the Woodchurch estate, is battered and stamped on in Highfield Road, Rock Ferry, by Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld.
December 23, 2022 - 6pm: Chapman leaves his home on Houghton Road, Woodchurch, in a stolen Mercedes and travels with Thomas Waring to the Robin Hood caravan park in Rhyl, North Wales. After spending about half an hour in the caravan park, Chapman returns and parks the Mercedes in the car park at the rear of his home, where it remains for almost 24 hours. Chapman later tells the jury this journey was to help a friend collect drugs money.
December 24, 2022 – The day of the murder
10.24am: Connor Chapman and Thomas Waring travel to Manchester with Chapman’s brother and others to do some Christmas shopping
7.30pm: Chapman and Waring arrive back in the Wirral. Chapman is dropped off near his home in Woodchurch.
8.31pm: A shadowy figure is seen on CCTV footage, recorded from a distant camera, appearing to leave Chapman’s house and pass from left to right. The interpretation of what this CCTV showed was fiercely disputed during the trial, with the defence claiming the jury could not be sure the figure was a person
8.44pm: The figure passes back in front of Chapman’s house from right to left. A stolen black Mercedes A-Class, used as a "pool car" by Chapman and other criminals, is driven away from the car park behind Chapman's home on Houghton Road.
8.57pm: The car is parked up on Green Lane – facing the Lighthouse pub.
9.20pm: The Mercedes is parked in the Lighthouse car park, at the back of the pub.
9.39pm: The car is parked up on Wallasey Village, the road in front of the pub.
10.17pm: After moving the car a short distance up the road, Chapman gets out and walks towards the United Reform Church, which has a car park next to the Lighthouse car park.
10.30pm: Chapman walks back towards the car and then past the Lighthouse pub, appearing to crouch down and look towards the pub from the road to the side.
10.54pm: Chapman walks back to the Mercedes and drives it to the pub car park, parking in an empty bay facing the entrance. His red gloves can be seen on the steering wheel. The car remains there for around 50 minutes.
11.47pm: Elle Edwards walks out to the front of the Lighthouse. Kieran Salkeld also walks outside, followed by Duffy, Liam Carr, Harry Loughran and Nicholas Speed.
11.49pm: Chapman, with his long hair and face covered, gets out of the car and lurks behind parked vehicles. He then runs across the car park to the side of the pub.
11.51pm: Chapman creeps along the line of the building holding a Skorpion sub-machine gun in both hands in front of him
11.52pm: Chapman steps out from the side of the building, both arms extended in front of him, and fires 12 shots. Two bullets hit Elle in the head, killing her almost instantly, and another round penetrates into the chest of Kieran Salkeld, leaving him in a critical condition. Jake Duffy is struck in each leg, while Harry Loughran, Liam Carr and Nicholas Speed are less seriously injured. Chapman backs towards the Mercedes, still firing, and drives away from the pub.
December 25 - Chapman turns to his ‘trusted associate’
12.03am: The stolen Mercedes is recorded travelling to near Private Drive, Barnston, the home of Thomas Waring, and parks in Overdale Avenue. Chapman is recorded on CCTV walking along Private Drive towards Waring’s house, at one point ruffling his long hair. In full view of the camera, he drops the gun which skids along the pavement, before stooping to collect it again.
At 12.35am: Elle Edwards is declared dead despite the best efforts of paramedics and medical staff
12.40am: Following phone calls from his dad, Thomas Waring, who has been at the home of a friend, takes a taxi home to Private Drive, where he arrives just before 1am.
3.47am: Chapman leaves the house and adjusts the position of the car, moving it from Overdale Avenue towards Waring’s house.
5.21am: A taxi ordered from Private Drive arrives back close to Chapman’s home and he is seen walking to the back of the house and then to the front.
December 31 2022: Chapman and Waring drive in convoy to a remote spot off Grassy Lane in Frodsham, Cheshire, where the stolen Mercedes used in the murder is burnt out
January 1 2023: Police go to the house of Chapman’s grandparents. A sergeant speaks to him on his grandad’s phone and asks him to hand himself in. Chapman does not use that phone again.
January 9 2023: Chapman travels to Wales in a hire car and stays in Penllwyn Lodges, booked by a woman he described as a friend, but who cannot be named for legal reasons.
January 10 2023: Chapman is arrested by undercover police at a Tesco store in Newtown, Wales.
January 12, 2023: Chapman is charged with the murder of Elle Edwards. That evening, eight minutes after the charges were announced, Thomas Waring stops using his “burner phone”.
January 26, 2023: Thomas Waring is arrested at his home in Private Drive.
March 8, 2023: Thomas Waring is charged with assisting an offender and possession of a prohibited weapon.
June 12, 2023: The trial of both men begins at Liverpool Crown Court
July 6, 2023: Connor Chapman and Thomas Waring are convicted of all counts
July, 7, 2023: Connor Chapman is jailed for life with a minimum term of 48 years for the murder of Elle Edwards.
July, 7, 2023: Thomas Waring is jailed for nine years for his role in helping Connor Chapman after the murder of Elle Edwards.
