Ashley Dale's mother calls murder victim's boyfriend 'disgusting' for not assisting police

The mom of a council employee shot lifeless in Liverpool has informed Sky News her demise has “left a big hole that can never be filled”.

It comes as 4 males have been discovered responsible of the homicide of Ashley Dale, who was killed within the backyard of her house.

James Witham, 41, Joseph Peers, 29, Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28, had been convicted following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. They had been additionally discovered responsible of conspiring to homicide her boyfriend Lee Harrison.

Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, was cleared of the fees.

Ms Dale, a 28-year-old environmental well being officer, died after being discovered with a gunshot wound within the again backyard of her house in Liverpool in August final yr.

A jury was informed Ms Dale was not the meant goal of the killing, as a substitute it was Mr Harrison – described in courtroom as a drug vendor concerned in criminality – who was in dispute with a rival gang.

Prosecutors mentioned she was shot “deliberately and mercilessly by a man who entered her home intending to kill”.

Ms Dale’s mom Julie, 46, described her daughter’s killing as “senseless and sickening”.

She mentioned: “Her life was ended in such a brutal way. She was happy, she loved life, we practically grew up together because I had her at such a young age, she’s just been a huge part of my life.

“I simply miss her. It’s left an enormous gap that may by no means be stuffed.”

Ms Dale had simply been given a job promotion and her mom mentioned her “life was moving in a good way for her”.

“To go in and fire 15 shots upstairs and downstairs, it’s despicable,” Julie Dale mentioned. “There was no regard for anyone.”

Harrison was not at his girlfriend’s house in Leinster Road, Old Swan, Liverpool, when James Witham kicked within the door armed with a Skorpion machine gun and fired a complete of 15 photographs.

The trial heard eight bullets had been fired in the direction of Ms Dale and two within the floor, believed to be in the direction of her canine.

The gunman then went upstairs right into a bed room the place he fired 5 bullets into the wall “to send a firm message to Lee Harrison”, the prosecution claimed.

While it was Witham who pulled the set off, which he had beforehand admitted to as a part of a manslaughter cost, it was an assault orchestrated by a gang that was in an ongoing feud with Harrison that had reignited at Glastonbury Festival simply weeks previous to Ms Dale’s killing.

Witham and Peers had been dispatched from a flat in Liverpool, tasked to seek out and kill Harrison by Barry and Zeisz.

They had been informed to not depart any witnesses. They had been described as “cowards” by Merseyside Police.

‘Petty feud’

Olivia Travis, senior crown prosecutor for CPS Merseyside, informed Sky News: “There’s nothing that Ashley could have done that would have stopped this happening to her because it was all out of her control.

“It was a petty feud that began over ‘he robbed my medication’ or ‘did he say this about me?’

“There were lots of little things that led to why Ashley was ultimately killed, but none of the defendants provided any rational excuse for why a person would go out and plan an attack with a Skorpion machine gun.”

CCTV footage confirmed a gray Hyundai arriving at Ms Dale’s house at 11.40pm on 20 August 2022. The males broken the tyres of her automobile within the hope that Harrison would emerge from the home, however he did not.

After the tyres of Ms Dale’s automobile had been slashed, she messaged her boyfriend to inform him the alarm was going off. He replied: “You think you’re in a horror movie. Are you okay? Alive?”

Just after midnight, she replied jokingly: “No, I’m dead“.

Less than half an hour later she was killed.

Victim’s boyfriend didn’t assist investigation

Despite him being the principal goal and shedding his girlfriend, Harrison didn’t help with any of the police investigation.

Ms Dale’s mom Julie mentioned she is going to “never be able to forgive him”.

“It’s disgusting,” she mentioned. “I can’t comprehend how someone who says how much he loved Ashley could take this stance.

“I spoke to him 10 days after it occurred, I sat in his presence and mentioned to him, ‘do the best factor, go to the police, you already know why this has occurred’.

“And he just said ‘I don’t – I can’t give you any reason why’. And for that, I can never forgive him.”

During the trial, which lasted eight weeks, the jury noticed messages written by Ms Dale, a month earlier than her killing, wherein she described “terrible anxiety” over fears Barry would come to her home as a part of a feud he had with Harrison.

In one message, she mentioned to a pal: “I just have a bad feeling about everything… it’s horrible. My heart’s in my mouth constantly.”

‘Chilling’ voice notes

Harrowing however useful voice notes Ms Dale despatched to buddies about occasions main as much as her demise had been an necessary ingredient that led to the conviction of those males.

They portrayed a girl clearly anxious about what the gangsters had been able to.

Detective Chief Inspector Cath Cummings, who led the investigation, informed Sky News: “Ashley particulars the worry and anxiousness as you hear these voice notes – from way back to June to the times earlier than she’s killed.

“You can hear in her voice this is serious now for Ashley and she is under immense fear and stress. She feels that she’s got to keep looking over her shoulder and is scared to leave the house.

“In over 20 years’ expertise with Merseyside Police, I’ve by no means heard a sufferer telling her personal story, it was actually chilling.”

For the perfect a part of two months, Ms Dale’s household sat in courtroom all through the trial reliving their ache. Her stepfather Rob Jones, 39, described it as “harrowing and distressing”.

He added: “It’s a murder of the highest level and if you’re not safe in your own house, where are you safe?”