A man accused of killing a woman outside a pub on Christmas Eve has told a court he knows who was involved in the shooting but refuses to name them.
Connor Chapman, 23, allegedly murdered Elle Edwards, 26, by opening fire with a Skorpion sub-machine gun outside the Lighthouse in Wallasey Village, Wirral, Merseyside, just before midnight on December 24 last year.
Giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court for a second day on Wednesday, Chapman denied driving to the pub in a stolen Mercedes A-Class car, which had been parked outside his home in Houghton Road, Woodchurch, and waiting in the area for about three hours before the attack.
He claimed a man went to collect the key for the “pool car” just before 9pm.
He said: “I know the person who came to get the car. I never asked the question. What’s understood doesn’t need to be said.”
Asked by Nigel Power KC, prosecuting, who that person was, Chapman said: “It’s not as simple as naming the person. There’s repercussions for naming that person who came and picked the car up.”
Asked again if he would tell the court who it was, he said: “At this stage, no.”
Mr Power asked at what stage he might tell the court.
Chapman replied: “I don’t believe I am going to, no.”
He told the court there had been “trouble” between people on the Woodchurch estate, where he lived, and the Ford – or Beechwood – estate on the other side of the M53 in Wirral.
The people who were having a feud with certain people off Ford. I'm not prepared to name them— Connor Chapman
The shooting was the culmination of a feud between groups in the two areas, the court has been told.
Chapman said in the days after the murder he shared a Facebook post by someone from the Ford estate calling for people to “put down these guns and knives”.
In his post, Chapman said: “It’s not that deep, it’s not unstoppable, some real petty shit going on out ere.”
He told the court he was trying to act as a mediator.
Asked who he was trying to mediate between, he said: “The people who were having a feud with certain people off Ford.”
Mr Power asked: “Who are they?”
Chapman said: “I’m not prepared to name them.”
He said three days after publishing the post on Facebook he found out the stolen Mercedes was used in the shooting and helped torch it.
Mr Power said: “All you were worried about was there was no retaliation back from the Ford estate to where you were and that you wouldn’t get caught?”
Chapman said: “I pretty much doubt that that Facebook post is going to fool anybody if I’m the person you’re saying I am. There’s been no shootings since I’ve been in jail so I must be the person doing the shooting, is that the suggestion?”
The defendant, wearing his hair in a bun, said he was at home all night on Christmas Eve after returning from shopping in Manchester at about 7.30pm and had been wrapping presents.
Asked if he used his phone during that time, he told the court: “I tried to wrap the presents and it just looked scruffy so I put into YouTube, ‘How to wrap presents’, and watched that for like 10 minutes. Maybe for another 40 minutes after that I had music on on my phone.”
He denies murdering Ms Edwards, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He also denies having a Skorpion sub-machine gun with intent to endanger life and possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Co-defendant Thomas Waring, 20, of Private Drive, Barnston, Wirral, denies possessing a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender by helping Chapman dispose of the car.
Chapman will continue giving evidence on Thursday.
