The shocking death of Elle Edwards, who was caught in the crossfire of a violent gang feud, has highlighted the senseless gun violence in Merseyside.
An innocent, unconnected bystander out enjoying a Christmas Eve night out with colleagues, the young beautician was shot dead with a sub-machine gun outside a pub by drug dealer Connor Chapman.
The Woodchurch estate gang, of which Chapman was a member, had made serious enemies with rival thugs across the M53 motorway in Wirral by spring last year, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Chapman was a member of a gang based in Woodchurch, engaged in a bloody feud with criminals in the Beechwood estate.
Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Mark Kameen said Chapman was a "coward" with "no moral compass". He added: "Who actually does that? Who unleashes a sub-machine gun into a group of people outside a pub? I think he's despicable."
Sadly though, Chapman was not the only gangland figure in the area willing to shed blood in needless violence.
In March, a man was shot multiple times in full view of members of the public including children in the Woodchurch estate. Then in June there were shots fired near the Arrowe Park pub nearby.
In August, Connor Chapman's brother Lewis Chapman was shot in the aptly-named Danger Lane in Moreton, using the same brand of Skorpion sub-machine gun that killed tragic Elle.
Jackie Rutter was then killed in her Moreton home in October, although police say this is not thought to be directly linked to the feud.
By December the violence was reaching boiling point. On the 3rd of the month, Curtis Byrne was shot in Orrets Meadow Road on the estate. The burglar was a Woodchurch gang associate and close friend of Connor Chapman.
A fortnight later there was a shooting in Newark Close, Noctorum, outside the home of Mark Smith, an associate of Chapman and Byrne. A man called Kieran Cowley was left with a bullet wound to the arm in that incident.
The day before Elle's murder, another criminal associate of Chapman, Sam Searson, was savagely beaten by Beechwood gangsters Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy.
Around 24 hours later, Salkeld and Duffy were wounded alongside Elle outside the Lighthouse Pub in Wallasey Village. They were the intended targets of the bullets that Chapman indiscriminately fired, tragically hitting Elle.
While these incident are shocking, they are just the ones reported to the police which have been disclosed by the force.
Inspector Alan McKeon even said chillingly the week before Elle's death that the gangland trouble could lead to an innocent person "getting caught in the crossfire".
The escalation is thought to have begun in 2019. A man with links to the Beechwood organised crime group was shot at a Shell garage, a crime that Chapman was found not guilty of in June 2022.
There are suggestions that this attack was the beginning of the increased violence from the Ford gang members.
In February last year, Chapman recorded a rap video while in prison awaiting trial for the 2019 shooting, vowing that those responsible for a violent burglary at his mum’s home would “live to regret it”.
Chapman also admitted during the murder trial that he occasionally sold cocaine on the the Beechwood estate - on "rival turf".
Adding to the terror of the violence is the weapons used. Skorpion sub-machine guns are lightweight, easily concealable and capable of firing around 15 rounds in less than one second. Police believe there are nine of the weapons in criminal circles in the area.
Wirral’s community policing lead, Superintendent Matthew Moscrop, said he believed once the violence escalated to that level and with those type of firearms used, both sides of the conflict would have decided to use them as to not show weakness.
ACC Kameen said criminal connections with other areas of the UK could explain the influx of weapons. He said: "Wirral didn't have a firearms problem 10 years ago, and now we're operating in a sphere where it's had something in the region of 20 or so discharges in the last four or so years. Why has that been?
“And then when we look at Merseyside on the Liverpool side of the water, that has had a gun crime problem for in excess of 20 to 25 years. So is it right to assume that it’s highly possible that problem has moved across into Wirral? Yes, I think that's probably a very fair assumption.”
However, since the arrest of Chapman on January 10, and the jailing of other prominent gang figures including Salkeld and Duffy, Wirral has recorded no further shootings.
Supt. Moscrop added: “We look at the last six months of last year, I think we had five firearms discharges in Wirral , five separate incidents, we had two people who lost their lives as a result of that, and others injured.
“In the first six months of this year, there haven't been any. Now part of that will be down to an awful lot of police activity that's going on. I would hope that that part of it is down to people realising what a dangerous business it is and how risky that is. For the community for innocent people, and for themselves.
“You know, people will get caught, they'll get convicted. And it's not doing anyone any favours. So, hopefully, there was a bit of a change of mentality, and we can get back to where we want to be where guns just aren't a feature of Wirral.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
READ NEXT:
BBC presenter 'called teen demanding their mum stopped probe into explicit images'
Nicky Campbell fears ex-teacher who 'sadistically beat boys' won't face justice due to age
Woman found out boyfriend was a paedophile days after she gave birth to his daughter
Beautiful South frontman puts money behind bar at five Glasgow pubs before TRNSMT
Teenager who went missing for eight years 'kept as sex slave by his own mother'
