Four more people have been charged in connection to the tragic murder of Elle Edwards.
The 26-year-old beautician was hit by a stray bullet almost a year ago. She had been at the Lighthouse Inn, in Wallasey, Merseyside, celebrating Christmas Eve with pals when shortly before midnight, a gunman opened fire on the pub, killing her.
Elle was not the intended target of the shooting. Connor Chapman, 23, armed with a Skorpion submachine gun, had been lying in wait at the pub for three hours for his intended targets, gang rivals Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy. Elle went outside for a cigarette and was sitting on a wall opposite Salkeld and Duffy, who she knew but who were not friends.
The killer approached from the car park and sprayed 12 shots into the crowd, killing her. Earlier this evening, Merseyside Police announced a handful of more arrests, linked to the murder. Four people were charged in connection to the shooting, all accused of assisting an offender.
In a statement, the police force said: "We have today, Thursday 21st December, charged four people in connection with the murder of Elle Edwards on Christmas Eve last year. A 42-year-old man from the Wallasey area, has been charged with assisting an offender. A 33-year-old woman from the Woodchurch area has been charged with assisting an offender. A 54-year-old man from the Woodchurch area has been charged with assisting an offender
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Beloved beautician Elle Edwards (PA)"A 33-year-old woman from the Birkenhead area has been charged with two counts of assisting an offender. They have all been bailed to appear at Wirral magistrates court on Monday 15th January 2024."
Reporting restrictions are in place so the four individuals cannot be named at this stage. Tim Edwards, Elle’s heartbroken dad, previously spoke to the Mirror about what he went through and recalled the trauma of identifying her after the shooting.
The 52-year-old told the Mirror: "It’s terrifying to hear kids this young are being groomed, but it’s becoming more and more common. My grandson is four now. In a few years, one of his friends could be one of these kids. The children being groomed into gangs now will be the ones using guns in the future."
He continued: "I had to watch the CCTV of her getting shot before the trial. I’ll never unsee it. Elle was sat on the wall having a fag with her back to that piece of s***. The targets he was aiming at were standing in front of Elle and he just sprayed at them. Another six inches up or to the side and she’d still be alive.
Murderer Connor Chapman (Liverpool echo)
Elle had been out with pals celebrating Christmas Eve when she was tragically killed (Liverpool Echo)"I opened the door and Connor just said: ‘We have to go to the hospital, it’s Elle.’ When we got to Arrowe Park Hospital the surgeon said to me she’d passed away. He said she’d been shot in the head. They put us in a side room at the hospital and I just went ballistic. I smashed the wall up.
"We couldn’t see Elle so we went home to her mum’s home and I just went and slept in her bed. The day after I had to identify her. I got the chance to speak to her. That was my final goodbye. It was awful." Tim was determined to get justice for Elle and found the strength to appear at a police press conference within days. He was wearing a Fleetwood Mac T-shirt, a band Ellie loved.
He says: "A couple of days before her death, on our last night together, me, Elle and Lucy had gone to Manchester Christmas markets and we ended up back at mine falling asleep listening to Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. And she was singing it."
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