This is the moment a gunman who murdered a woman during a horror shooting on Christmas Eve was tackled by officers during a 'romantic getaway' with his partner.
Connor Chapman was wrestled to the ground by officers while shopping in a Tesco store in Newtown, Powys - more than two weeks after he killed Elle Edwards on December 24 last year.
Following the attack and after learning he was a wanted man, the 23-year-old escaped to Penllwyn Lodges near Montgomery, Powys, for what was described as a “romantic getaway” with his girlfriend.
However, police officers were able to track him down and arrested him at the supermarket checkout on January 10. CCTV footage from inside the store, released by Merseyside Police, shows Chapman waiting to pay at the till after unloading several items from his basket.
Two plain-clothes officers grab the gunman and tackle him to the floor, with several other officers then rushing in to provide backup. Chapman was last week found guilty for murdering 26-year-old Elle in the gangland hit gone wrong, the Liverpool Echo reports.
He was handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 48 years. Watching from the gallery, members of Elle’s family shouted “goodbye lad”, “scumbag”, and “f***** rat” as he was taken down to the cells.
During his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, jurors heard how the career criminal and self-confessed drug dealer lurked outside the Lighthouse pub for nearly three hours before carrying out the fatal shooting. CCTV showed Elle happily chatting with friends inside the busy bar before heading out for a cigarette at 11.47pm.
Just minutes later, Chapman emerges with a military-grade Skorpion submachine gun and fires several rounds into a crowd standing at the entrance to the pub. He then drove to the home of his “criminal associate” Thomas Waring, 20, who took custody of the gun.
A week later, the pair set fire to the stolen Mercedes that was used as their getaway car after the shooting. Waring, of Private Drive, Barnston, was jailed for nine years for possession of a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender.
It is understood that the intended targets of the shooting were Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy. Salkfeld had been standing next to “wholly innocent” Elle when the attack took place. She died after sustaining two gunshots to the head and one in the shoulder.
Jurors were told the shooting was the culmination of an ongoing violent feud between rival gangs from Woodchurch and Beechwood, also known as the Ford Estate. Salkeld suffered organ damage after one bullet penetrated his chest during the Lighthouse shooting while Duffy was shot in both legs.
Three other “innocent bystanders” – Liam Carr, Harry Loughran, and Nicholas Speed – were also struck and injured.
Chapman, of Houghton Road in Woodchurch, was convicted by a jury of seven women and five men after three hours and 48 minutes of deliberations and following a three-and-a-half week trial.
He was also found guilty of attempting to murder Salkeld and Duffy, wounding with intent against Mr Duffy and Mr Loughran, assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Mr Speed and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
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