This is the moment a submachine gun killer who murdered a woman in a gangland hit gone wrong is arrested during a "romantic getaway" in Wales. Murderer Connor Chapman, 23, was tackled to the ground by police officers at a Tesco store in Newtown, Powys, more than a fortnight after he killed beautician Elle Edwards in a hail of bullets.
After the 26-yea-old was gunned down outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey on Christmas Eve 2022 killer Chapman escaped to Penllwyn Lodges near Montgomery, Powys, for what was described as a “romantic getaway” with his girlfriend having learned he was a wanted man. But police officers tracked him down and detained him as he bought shopping at the checkout in Tesco on January 10 last year.
CCTV footage from inside the supermarket, released by Merseyside Police, shows Chapman stood beside the till having unloaded several items from a basket. But Chapman is then grasped by two plain-clothed officers who wrestle him to the floor. Other officers then pile in to detain him, the Liverpool Echo reported.
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Chapman was last week found guilty of murdering Elle in a botched gangland shooting. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 48 years. Members of Elle’s family shouted “goodbye lad”, “scumbag”, and “f***** rat” as he was taken down to the cells.
Liverpool Crown Court previously heard the career criminal and self-confessed cocaine dealer lurked outside the busy pub for nearly three hours before carrying out the shooting. Elle was seen on CCTV inside the Lighthouse happily chatting with friends before going outside for a cigarette at 11.47pm.
Minutes later the gunman emerged from the shadows and fired a volley of shots towards a group stood by the entrance to the Lighthouse with a military-grade Skorpion submachine gun. He then went to the home of his “criminal associate” Thomas Waring, who took custody of the gun.
A week later, on New Year’s Eve, Waring helped Chapman to torch a stolen Mercedes used in the shooting. Waring, 20, of Private Drive, Barnston, was jailed for nine years for possession of a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender.
The intended targets of the shooting were said to have been Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy with the former having been stood next to “wholly innocent” Elle when Chapman unleashed his hail of bullets. She was struck twice in the head and once in the shoulder and died as a result of her injuries.
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.
