Elle Edwards murder: Connor Chapman jailed for a minimum of 48 years - ‘I hope he rots in hell’

Connor Chapman has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 48 years for the murder of Elle Edwards, who was shot and killed outside a Wirral pub on Christmas Eve last year.

The 26-year-old beautician was an innocent bystander in a ‘gang revenge’ shooting outside The Lighthouse in Wallasey Village, when Chapman opened fire with a Skorpion sub-machine gun on a crowd of people just before midnight.

Twelve shots were fired. Ms Edwards was hit twice in the head, once in the shoulder and died almost instantly. Intended targets Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy were also hit, but survived.

Salkeld, Duffy and Chapman were involved in an ongoing series of disputes between two rival gangs from the Woodchurch and Ford estates on the Wirral. Three other men, not connected to the feud, were also injured in the shooting.

Chapman, 23, was found guilty of murder and seven other charges, at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday. Murder carries an automatic life sentence, but High Court Judge Justice Goose had to determine a minimum term before he would even be considered for parole.

In passing sentence Mr Justice Goose said: “What you did Connor Chapman was as wicked as it was shocking. You murdered Elle, bringing an end to her life, and caused serious injury and wounded others. It’s utterly shocking you carefully planned a revenge attack in a gang rivalry. You had no thought for anyone else. The risks of what you did were as high as they were obvious.”

Speaking after the verdict, Elle’s father Tim Edwards said: “That thing that pulled the trigger. I hope he rots in hell. Even that’s too good for him. I look for a reaction, and he hasn’t given one yet - not one inkling of remorse or regret or anything.”

At the trial, Chapman pleaded not guilty and claimed he was at home all night when the shooting happened and that he had given another man, whom he refused to name, the key to a stolen Mercedes parked in a car park near his home on Houghton Road.

But, the jury found it was Chapman who had driven the car to the busy pub and waited outside for almost three hours before launching the attack. After the shooting he fled the scene in the car and drove to friend Thomas Waring’s house, where CCTV showed Chapman, with distinctive long hair, appearing to drop the gun on the pavement as he walked towards the address.

A week later, on New Year’s Eve, he and Waring, 20, drove to Frodsham, Cheshire, where they burned out the stolen Mercedes.

Guilty of seven charges: As well as murder, Chapman was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, as well as possession of a Skorpion submachine gun with intent to endanger life and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He pleaded guilty before the trial to a charge of handling stolen goods.

Accomplice: Waring, of Private Drive, Barnston, was convicted of possession of a prohibited firearm and assisting an offender and pleaded guilty before the trial to failing to comply with a disclosure notice.