A man accused of murdering a 28-year old woman has told a court he spoke to her boyfriend while in Dubai after her death.
Environmental health worker Ashley Dale was shot with a Skorpion sub-machine gun at home in Old Swan, Liverpool, at about 12.30am on August 21 last year, after an alleged feud between five men accused of her murder and her partner Lee Harrison.
At Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, defendant Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, denied being part of the plot to kill Mr Harrison, which resulted in Miss Dale’s death, and said he travelled to Dubai in the days after the shooting to avoid retaliation and because he feared being wrongly implicated.
He said: “When I was in Dubai, I spoke to Lee. Lee arrived in Dubai and wanted to meet me in Dubai. I’d gone to Spain.
I didn't know there was an arrest warrant out for me until I came into a road stop in Spain and was arrested— Ian Fitzgibbon, defendant
“He knows this is nothing to do with me.”
Fitzgibbon said he felt “shocked” and “scared” after Miss Dale’s death.
The court was shown a photograph of him with his sister Claudia having a meal on the terrace at the Galliard hotel in Dubai on August 27 last year.
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, asked Fitzgibbon if the image showed him looking “shocked” and “scared”.
The defendant said: “Facing me is my nan and grandad. It’s my sister’s birthday. ‘Cause I’m smiling on a picture, doesn’t mean I’ve changed how I felt inside. I’m not going to sit there crying about it.”
Because I've contacted a man to come and watch the boxing I'm standing trial— Ian Fitzgibbon, defendant
Fitzgibbon was arrested in Spain in August this year, the court was told.
He said: “My girlfriend got pregnant. She’s from Spain so I stayed in Spain.
“I didn’t know there was an arrest warrant out for me until I came into a road stop in Spain and was arrested.”
On August 20 last year, Fitzgibbon was at a flat in Pilch Lane, Huyton, with co-defendants Sean Zeisz, 28, Joseph Peers, 29, Niall Barry, 26, and James Witham, 41, the jury was told.
The prosecution alleges the flat was the “centre of operations” for the murder plot and Peers and Witham left to carry out the shooting.
Fitzgibbon said messages and attempts to call Witham after he left the flat at 10.10pm were to ask if he was coming back to watch the boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.
He said it was “untrue” that he was getting in touch to see how the “plot” was progressing.
He said: “Because I’ve contacted a man to come and watch the boxing I’m standing trial.”
Mr Greaney suggested Fitzgibbon had “chosen a side” and was involved in the plot.
Fitzgibbon said: “You’ve got it completely wrong.”
Fitzgibbon, Barry, Zeisz, Peers and Witham, deny the murder of Miss Dale, conspiracy to murder Mr Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon – a Skorpion sub-machine gun – and ammunition.
Witham admits manslaughter.
Kallum Radford, 26, denies assisting an offender.
