The Skorpion sub-machine gun used in the murder of Elle Edwards was capable of emptying its magazine "before you could sneeze", a jury heard.
Liverpool Crown Court has heard a gunman used the Czech made military style weapon to fire 12 shots at the front of the Lighthouse Pub on Christmas Eve last year, killing the "wholly innocent" 26-year-old beautician as she sat perched on the edge of a flower bed. Five men were also wounded but survived their injuries.
Nigel Power, KC, prosecuting, has told the jury the Crown alleges that the killer's intended targets were two of those men - Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy. Connor Chapman, 23, is on trial accused of Elle's murder, the attempted murder of Salkeld and Duffy and wounding three other innocent bystanders with intent to cause GBH.
READ MORE: Live court updates as Connor Chapman stands trial for Elle Edwards' murder
Today the jury heard evidence from firearms examination scientist Andre De Villiers Horne, who arrived in court with a Skorpion sub-machine gun of the model used in the shooting.
Mr Horne explained that the Skorpion has three firing modes; safe mode which means it cannot be fired, single-shot mode and fully automatic mode. If the gun is in full auto mode, the jury were told, it continuously fires until the shooter releases the trigger or it runs out of bullets.
Mr Horne said: "It will fire a volley of shots. We’re talking 14 to 15 rounds per second. If you don’t let go, before you can sneeze you will have emptied the magazine.
“On single shot, you will have to pull the trigger for every time you fire.”
Mr Power played footage of the shooting to the jury, which he asked Mr Horne to share his conclusions about. The jury were told based on the way the shooter fired Mr Horne concluded it was set to single-shot mode.
On the footage, the gunman steps out from the side of the pub and holds the weapon in both hands with his arms fully extended.
Mr Power suggested that, according to the footage, the gunman fires seven shots followed by a brief pause, then two shots, another brief pause, then three shots. Mr Horne agreed.
Mr Power asked: "Seeing that footage and listening to that soundtrack, why was it that you were able to determine the mode in which the gun had been set?”
Mr Horne replied: “If the gun had been set to automatic fire at a rate of 14, 15 rounds per second, that would have been much faster than that. It’s also more difficult to control.
“In order to fire single shots you really need to put it on single shot mode. If we look at the duration, it leads me to believe they were fired individually."
The jury has been told the shooting followed a violent feud between two criminal groups, based on one side around the Woodchurch estate and in the other around the Beechwood/Ford estate in Wirral.
The prosecution allege that Chapman, from Houghton Road in Woodchurch, was the shooter and that Salkeld and Duffy had been involved in attacks on other men from the Woodchurch area.
Chapman denies any involvement in the shooting and claims he was at home at the time. He accepts he had access to a stolen black Mercedes car used by the gunman, but claims an associate borrowed the vehicle in the hours before Elle was killed.
The trial continues.
