Elle Edwards, a “wholly innocent” woman who was shot twice in the head with a sub-machine gun on Christmas Eve 2022, was standing next to two “intended victims” of an attack at the time of her death. A court heard that the shooting was the culmination of an “ongoing feud” between rival groups from two estates.
Connor Chapman, 23, is accused of the murder of 26-year-old Ms Edwards, who was killed outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, Merseyside, on December 24 last year.
Nigel Power KC, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court, said Ms Edwards was out with friends for an “enjoyable night out” when, at 11.47pm, she moved outside for a cigarette.
She stood near a group of people, two of which were Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld, whom Mr Powell says were the intended targets.
The court heard that two bullets from a Czech Skorpion sub-machine gun, used by security services and the army, entered the back of her head on the left side, killing her.
The jury was told after the shooting, the defendant drove a stolen Mercedes to the home of his friend and co-defendant Thomas Waring, 20, in Barnston in the Wirral.
In CCTV footage shown to the court a man, alleged to be Chapman, was seen walking towards Waring’s house.
The court heard the day before the shooting, on December 23, Mr Duffy and Mr Salkeld, from the Ford estate, assaulted Sam Searson, from the Woodchurch estate.
Mr Power said: “What we say it shows is that what otherwise might have been viewed as a random or inexplicable shooting of a wholly innocent woman, Elle Edwards, was in fact the culmination of an ongoing feud between people from, on the one hand, the Woodchurch estate, and on the other hand, from the Ford Estate, which included Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld, who were the intended victims of the shooting.”
Around 12 members of Ms Edwards’ family were in court for the opening of the trial.
Chapman, wearing a white shirt and grey tie with his brown hair tied back, denies the murder of Ms Edwards, two counts of attempted murder and three counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He also denies possession of a Skorpion sub-machine gun with intent to endanger life and possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life.
The trial continues.
