UK - Ashley Dale, 28 fatally shot at home, Liverpool - 21 Aug 2022

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves
15:58Jonathan Humphries

Fitzgibbon extradited​

Mr Langhorn says on August 9, 2023, Ian Fitzgibbon is arrested in Spain.
He asks DS Sutton why.
GS: “He was arrested because there was a warrant out for his arrest in relation to the murder of Ashley Dale.”
He was then extradited back to the UK, and did not contest his extradition.



 
16:03JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Footwear​

The jury shown the footwear of defendants
August 10, Witham wearing black trainers with white soled trainers at Ten Streets Social
August 15, 19 and 20, black trainers with a white sole outside Pilch Lane
August 20, purchase of On Cloudflyers
That evening, wearing On Cloudflyers with black sole
August 21, wearing black trainers with white sole
August 23 black trainers white sole
August 23, black Asics with red sole purchased
Peers footwear:
August 10, Ten Streets Social, white trainers
19 August, 20 August Pilch Lane, same white trainers
August 21, “black patterned trainers”
August 22, Adidas sliders
August 23, same black trainers
August 26, black sliders
DS Sutton says enquiries were made at Go Local on Pilch Lane, and it was confirmed that the shop sells cigarettes and alcohol.
That is all the jury will hear today. Thanks for following our live coverage. We will return on Monday morning from 10.30am with further live updates.

 
14:23KEY EVENT

“It’s nothing to do with her. She didn’t hurt no one”​

The jury are brought back in, and Mr Langhorn calls Sergeant Christopher Lowe to give evidence.

On August 24, he “was part of a specialist firearms team that attended the Formby Hall Hotel”.
When asked why he attended, he says: “I was in possession of information that Niall Barry was wanted on suspicion of murder.”
He says Barry was located in room 223, cautioned and arrested on suspicion of murder.
Sgt Lowe says Barry then made an “unsolicited comment”. He recalls Barry said: “It’s nothing to do with her. She didn’t hurt no one.”
Sgt Lowe says his bodyworn camera was not on, so he made a note of the comment on a do not disturb sign.
A jury is shown a picture of this sign, which says “Please do not disturb, I’m too comfortable to wake up yet.” The comment is written in pen underneath.
Mr Langhorn has no further questions.

Stanley Reiz, KC, representing Niall Barry, rises to cross examine Sgt Lowe.
He asks Sgt Lowe to confirm there were “six or seven other firearms officers” present.
SR: “He was compliant wasn’t he?”
CL: “He was compliant.”
SR: “Other officers were dealing with his girlfriend Lucy Worley. Did you see other officers speaking to her?”
CL: “Yes.”
SR: “At that point Miss Worley began to cry?”
CL: “I’ve no idea. I don’t know. I know they were talking to her, I was dealing with Mr Barry.”
SR: “He was looking into the room to see how the other officers were dealing with the woman?”
CL; “He couldn’t have looked into the room
SR: “Are there laser sights?”
CL: “Yes.”
SR: “Were guns pointed at either Mr Barry or Miss Worley?”
CL “They were definitely pointed at Mr Barry. I couldn’t answer for the female.”
SR: “Did you see Miss Worley start to cry at any point?”
CL: “No I was dealing with Mr Barry.”
SR: “Mr Barry, while he was compliant, he did at one stage make a reference to the woman.”
CL: “He did, yes.”
SR: “He was asking your colleagues to leave her alone.”
CL: “He said it was nothing to do with her, she didn’t hurt no one.”
SR: “I’m going to suggest the words he used were different.”
CL: “No.”
SR: “He said she was a nice girl.”
CL: “He didn’t say that.”
SR: “He asked her colleagues not to point their guns at her.”
CL: “He certainly didn’t say that. I did write down what I thought was a significant comment.”
SR: “While you told him he was being arrested, you didn’t ask him whether he was involved in the murder or not.”
CL: “I wouldn’t ask him that question.”

There are no further questions for the witness, and he is released.


I'm really not sure it was a good idea for the crown to call this copper to give this evidence.

There's no bodycam footage of NB saying it, and with his girlfriend (LW) being present and also being arrested his defence can very plausibly deny the prosecution's inference that when he says “It’s nothing to do with her. She didn’t hurt no one” the "her/she" in that sentence is LW, not AD.

Considering how strong a lot of the other evidence is this seems pretty weak and I'm not sure they should have bothered with introducing it to be honest.
 
I've been on holiday but have followed the updates when I could. Not sure if motive has been discussed, but I can't believe, if guilty, these blokes would have gone to the trouble of planning a hit on Lee Harrison and then it turned out he wasn't even home. I mean, they don't exactly seem brain of britain types but still!

I wondered if maybe Ashley was the intended target, to get revenge on her boyfriend. Zeis was livid the Hillside gang stole his girlfriend and it wouldn't surprise me if they saw girlfriends as their property. Maybe they decided to get Ashley as a tit for tat for Liv. JMO
 
10:57JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

How cell site analysis works​

Alex Langhorn, junior counsel for the prosecution, begins by calling cell site analysis engineer John Tarpey to the stand as an expert witness.
Mr Tarpey sets out his background in the industry, including working as a network engineer for mobile phone networks - which saw him “build the Orange network”.
Mr Tarpey says he has worked on hundreds of criminal cases.
JT: “In simple terms when you use your mobile phone it connects to a cell site, a mobile phone mast. The network keeps a record of which mobile phone mast you connect to. My role is to look at those records and to draw conclusions as to where the mobile could have been when it made that phone call or sent that text. I look at that data and can get an idea of where the phone was, how it moved around, who it contacted, when it was switched on and off.”
Mr Langhorn asks him to explain “how accurate” cell site analysis is.
JT: “It’s accurate to the coverage area of the cell, which depends on the cell and where in the country it is.”
He says that, in this case where there are many masts within a built up area, the locations of phones will be accurate within “half a mile or so”.
AL: “Does it give a general idea of where the phone has been?”
JT: “It does. And where it has not.”

11:21JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Movements on August 15​

Mr Tarpey says there are “three main types of activity with a phone” - text messages, voice calls and data usage.
He confirms that he was provided with billing records for phones attributed to the defendants and several others who feature in the case.
Surveys were carried out at several locations featured in the trial including Leinster Road, 267 Pilch Lane, Woodlands Road, Linnet Court, Ten Streets Social and the Mercure Hotel in St Helens.
The jury are shown a series of maps plotting locations where cell siting data has been analysed.
The data begins on August 15, when Fitzgibbon’s phone is located in the Sefton Park area.
Between 1.59pm and 2.42 pm, the phones of Barry, Witham, Peers and David McCaig are cell siting in the area of Pilch Lane.
From 3.17pm to 3.39pm, Witham and Mr McCaig’s phones “moved across to the east”.
Automatic number plate recognition technology also captured an Audi car heading towards St Helens.
Peers’ phone meanwhile remains in the area of Pilch Lane, as does Michael Kershaw’s.
Witham and McCaig’s devices are shown to travel “along the East Lancs, down the M6, across the M62 and around the M60 down to Sale”.
Around 4.30pm to 5pm, the phones of Barry and Mr Kershaw are located in the Huyton area.
Witham’s and Mr McCaig’s phones are meanwhile “in the Sale area of Manchester, in the general area of Firs Road”.
At 6.17pm, Witham and Mr McCaig are in the Lymm area of Cheshire, “moving around, roughly speaking the area between Lymm and Lymm Services at the junction of the M6 and M56”.
Barry, Peers, Zeisz, Mr Kershaw are meanwhile still in the Huyton area.
Witham and Mr McCaig’s phones are then seen “heading back west, probably along the M62, towards Liverpool”.

 
11:33JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Journey to Wales​

Witham and Mr McCaig’s phones return to the area of Pilch Lane, “in the same general area” of Peers, Mr Kershaw, Zeisz and Mr Barry.
Mr Langhorn says the data shows Witham and McCaig “going to Manchester with the Audi and then coming back”.
The data turns to the afternoon of August 19.
Peers, Witham and Mr McCaig are shown to be in the Pilch Lane area at around 1.30pm.
JT: “We see all three of them moving east, out of Liverpool, probably along the M62, then south to Widnes.”
This coincides with an ANPR hit at 2.13pm.
Mr Tarpey says of Barry’s phone: “There were no records between 12.53 and 17.52, so we’re not sure where it was at this point. It might have been turned off. There were several calls forwarded to voicemail.”
He says there were “a number of text messages in quick succession” when the phone came back into use.
JT: “That suggests the phone was quite probably switched off.”
The Hyundai car then travels down the M56 “into the North Wales area”.
Peers Witham and McCaig connect to cells along same route
JT: “They’ve all moved from Liverpool across the bridge at Runcorn and towards Wales around the same time, potentially in that vehicle. We can’t say for certain they are in the vehicle, but round about the time the vehicle was captured on ANPR they are using cells which would provide coverage around that ANPR. We can’t say for certain someone is in exactly that car.”
The phones are shown travelling towards Rhyl.
Mr Tarpey says there are “loads of calls” between 3.27pm and 4.10pm in North Wales area involving the phones of Peers, Witham and Mr McCaig.
The Hyundai then activates two ANPR cameras in the Kimmel Bay area.
JT: “The three mobiles are used in the same area at the same time as the ANPR records.”

 
11:39JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Short break​

Mr Tarpey explains the Peers, Witham and Mr McCaig phones and the Hyundai are then shown “heading east, towards England”.
JT: “The mobiles are all moving back towards Chester. At 17.37, there is a data record on the McCaig phone just west of the ANPR siting. There’s one on the Peers phone just east of it. Those calls are either side of the ANPR siting.”
Mr Langhorn says they are then shown travelling “towards Ellesmere, through Deeside”.
Barry’s phone then receives a text while located near to the A550 in South Wirral, south west of Ellesmere Port “in the same general location of the other mobiles coming back from Wirral.”
They are then located either side of the tunnels.
The court will now take a short break, resuming at 11.55am.

 
12:18JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Witham's phone in 'Goodison Park' area on matchday​

The jury are brought back in, and Mr Tarpey’s evidence continues.
The data resumes on August 20, at 10.05am, when Fitzgibbon’s phone is in the area of Linnett Lane before “moving up to the north east”.
Witham’s phone meanwhile is located in the Dovecot area.
Around 10.45am the Witham and Fitzgibbon phones are connected to masts in Huyton.
At 11.11am,Witham and Fitzgibbon’s phones are cell siting in the area of Taskers Sports in Aintree.
They then move south east from the Walton area “along a route similar to Queens Drive, towards Tuebrook” around lunchtime.
Between 2.50 and 3.27pm, Peers and Fitzgibbon are located in the area of Pilch Lane.
From 1.17pm to 5.08pm, Witham’s phone is seen in the Dovecot area before moving north west.
Mr Kershaw’s phone makes a similar journey.
JT: “They’ve both moved up to the Everton area, in the general area around Goodison Park.”
AL: “At 3.30 or thereabouts, usual kick off times, their phones are in the area of Goodison Park.”
JT: “Yes.”

 
12:30JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Phone locations hours before shooting​

Mr Tarpey confirms between 5.19pm and 7.05pm, Mr Kershaw and Witham’s phone are located in an area to the west of Goodison Park before moving “back up over towards Knotty Ash, Page Moss”.
Mr Langhorn asks about the location of the Peers and Fitzgibbon phones on the afternoon of August 20.
JT: “There’s only one record for Mr Fitzgibbon’s phone. That record and all the records for Mr Peers’ phone show them using cells in the vicinity of 267 Pilch Lane.”
Peers’ phone was located in the area around Pilch Lane, “then moved west towards Broad Green before moving north towards Knotty Ash and Page Moss”.
Witham’s phone “began in the Knotty Ash area and finished up moving towards Pilch Lane”.
Fitzgibbon’s device meanwhile was “used in the Knotty Ash area”.
Between 7.54pm and 8.03pm, all three are shown to be in the vicinity of Pilch Lane.
The Peers and Witham phones are then “being used in the Huyton area but probably not at Pilch Lane”, with Fitzgibbon in the “general area” of Huyton”.
At 8.21pm, the Peers and Witham phones are “moving around the Huyton area” with Fitzigbbon’s phone also in this area.
Around this time, Zeisz’s phone “looks to be moving from Page Moss down towards the area of Pilch Lane”.
After around 9pm, Peers’ phone appeared to have been “switched off until 23.09”.
During this period, Zeisz and Barry’s phones are using cells covering Pilch Lane, with Witham using cells “across the Huyton area”.
Mr Tarpey says this could indicate that he was “moving across the area”.
Mr Langhorn asks about sightings of a grey Hyundai: “Based on the cell site of Mr Witham, can you say where he might have been in that vehicle?”
JT: “There are no records for Witham between 22.18 and 22.23. The cells he used at the time of those calls at 22.18 and 22.23 were over to the east. At those times, he wasn’t anywhere near the ANPR, the sightings of the vehicle. There is nothing to suggest he was in that vehicle.”
Witham, Barry and Kershaw are then said to be “using cells across a fairly wide area” while Zeisz, Fitzgibbon and Witham are “using cells much closer to the area around Pilch Lane”.
JT: “I think it’s fair to say Mr Witham is probably moving around. All the others could be in the area of Pilch Lane.”
At 23.09, Peers’ phone connects to the network for the first time in two hours.
AL: “We can see an ANPR sighting of the Hyundai i30N Performance heading through Roby towards Huyton, travelling east. It’s beyond Pilch Lane. We can see Woodlands Road just above it. Which mast did Mr Peers’ phone connect to when it connected to the network?”
JT: “A mast at Huyton, just to the east of the ANPR.”
At 23.11, the phone uses a cell “some distance to the south”.

 
I've been on holiday but have followed the updates when I could. Not sure if motive has been discussed, but I can't believe, if guilty, these blokes would have gone to the trouble of planning a hit on Lee Harrison and then it turned out he wasn't even home. I mean, they don't exactly seem brain of britain types but still!

I wondered if maybe Ashley was the intended target, to get revenge on her boyfriend. Zeis was livid the Hillside gang stole his girlfriend and it wouldn't surprise me if they saw girlfriends as their property. Maybe they decided to get Ashley as a tit for tat for Liv. JMO

Agree with this.
 
11:39JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

Short break​

Mr Tarpey explains the Peers, Witham and Mr McCaig phones and the Hyundai are then shown “heading east, towards England”.
JT: “The mobiles are all moving back towards Chester. At 17.37, there is a data record on the McCaig phone just west of the ANPR siting. There’s one on the Peers phone just east of it. Those calls are either side of the ANPR siting.”
Mr Langhorn says they are then shown travelling “towards Ellesmere, through Deeside”.
Barry’s phone then receives a text while located near to the A550 in South Wirral, south west of Ellesmere Port “in the same general location of the other mobiles coming back from Wirral.”
They are then located either side of the tunnels.
The court will now take a short break, resuming at 11.55am.



that doesn't make sense. Either they are coming back to the Wirral or coming back from Wales.
 
12:41Jonathan Humphries

Expert 'does not think' Peers's phone was at his home address​

Mr Langhorn asks: “Are the cells that Mr Peers connects to ones that serve his home address? Woodlands Road.”
Mr Tarpey responds: “No.”
AL: “Would they provide coverage of an area including where that vehicle was?”
JT: “More in the direction it was moving. The calls are a couple of minutes after the ANPR.”
Mr Tarpey is asked whether the phone could have been in the car.
JT: “It could have been. The vehicle was moving eastwards into the area of that cell.”
AL: “Is it in the same general area of Woodlands Road?”
JT: “Yes.”
AL: “Is it possible it could have been there?”
JT: “I don’t think so, no.”
Mr Tarpey is asked if there is any further data for the phone on August 20, and replies:“After 23.11, there were no records until 42 minutes past midnight.”
The witness confirms that the phone did not connect to the network again on August 20.



 
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12:56Jonathan Humphries

Lunch break​

At around 11.10pm, the Zeisz and Witham phones are cell siting around Pilch Lane.
Witham’s phone then moved from Pilch Lane towards “the general direction of Old Swan”.

In the early hours of August 21, Zeisz’s phone is shown to be “using a cell very close to Pilch Lane”.
At 12.35am, the Peers and Witham phones are not connected to the network.
The Hyundai is seen in the area around Leinster Road.
Peers’ phone reconnected to the network at 12.43am.

JT: “There was a record which suggests that the phone was turned back on or reconnected to the network at that time.”

Mr Langhorn says it was connected to a mast around Ashbury Road.

Mr Tarpey says this mast would not have covered his home address.

Peers’ counsel asks to raise a matter of law.


Justice Goose instructs the jury to take a slightly earlier lunch break, and the trial will resume at 2pm.




 
14:21Jonathan Humphries

Hours after the shooting​

Mr Langhorn asks Mr Tarpey to clarify the sightings of the grey Hyundai around 10.20pm on August 20 and the timings of them.

JT: “During this period, between 22.15 and 22.48, there are several sightings of a grey Hyundai in the Old Swan area.
The mobile phone attributable to James Witham did not use any cells suggesting it could be in the vehicle.”

Mr Langhorn returns to the early hours of August 21.
Fitzgibbon’s phone is shown to have “moved down to the Sefton Park area”, while Mr Kershaw is still “in the Huyton area”.
Peers and Zeisz phones are meanwhile “using cells very consistent to and possibly at 267 Pilch Lane”, which would also provide coverage for area of former’s home on Woodlands Road.
Peers is then shown to be using “cells across the Huyton area”, which cover his home and some of which cover Pilch Lane.

AL: “Is it possible to say with certainty where he was?”
JT: “No.”

Mr Tarpey says Zeisz’s phone continued to use masts covering Pilch Lane.

Between 1.21am and 3.25am, Peers’ phone was “in and around the Huyton area”, connecting to some masts providing coverage at Pilch Lane and Woodlands Road.
Mr Kershaw is shown to be in the Huyton area between 3.26am and 4.53am.
Barry too is placed in Huyton, with Fitzgibbon using cells in the Toxteth and Sefton Park area.


 
14:34Jonathan Humphries

Fitzgibbon and Zeisz phones in "Sefton Park" area​

Mr Langhorn asks Mr Tarpey to confirm that at 10.54am, Fitzgibbon’s phone is “still in the area of Linnet Court”.

Barry’s phone is using a cell at Pilch Lane, as is Zeisz’s phone.
Zeisz’s phone is then shown “moving down towards the Sefton Park area, the area around Linnet Court”.
At 11.22am, both his and Fitzgibbon’s phone are in this area.
They then “appear to be moving around, using the same cell sites at the same time”.
Mr Langhorn says there are then “data hits for Mr Fitzgibbon over the water”.

JT: “We can see connections on the Birkenhead side are in the middle of a large number of hits on the Liverpool side. Water provides no boundary.”

Mr Tarpey says that there is nothing which would prevent his phone from connecting with a mast on the opposite side of the Mersey.
JT: “I would suggest it was somewhere down towards the waterside.”

Fitzgibbon’s phone is then shown moving from Aigburth towards Sefton Park shortly after 12pm.
Zeisz’s phone is also then being used in the Sefton Park area, with two phones attributed to Barry used in the vicinity an ANPR hit at 12.02pm.
The Barry, Zeisz and Fitzgibbon phones are then located in the area of St Michael in the Hamlet at around 12.30pm.





 
14:44Jonathan Humphries

Hyundai recorded in West Derby​

On the morning of August 21, Mr Kershaw is shown to be using a mast in the Huyton area.
At 11am, the Hyundai activates an ANPR camera in the West Derby area.
At this time, Peers’ phone is using masts covering “the same general area”.
Mr Tarpey says it “could have been” in the vehicle or elsewhere in the area covered by the masts.

Peers’ phone is shown “moving around the Stockbridge Village area”, then moving from Prescot “down towards the Huyton area”.
At 11.07am, the Hyundai passes an ANPR camera travelling towards Huyton.
PT: “About a minute later the Peers phone is in that same area.
Mr Tarpey is asked whether the phone could have been in the car, and replies: “It’s possible that it was, or it could have been in the same general area.”

The Peers and Kershaw phones are then connected to phones in the Huyton area.
Between 12.21 and 17.20 Mr Kershaw’s phone is using cells in the Huyton area.
In the early evening, Barry’s phone is using a cell in the Knotty Ash area, with Zeisz’ phone in Huyton and Kershaw’s phone “using a cell around the M57, around the Knotty Ash area”.
At 5.42pm, Fitzgibbon’s phone is using a cell “next to the Pilch Lane address”.
Between 17.47 and 18.32, Zeisz’s phone is using the same mast.
And, between 17.53 and 18.12, Barry’s phone is using the same cell.
Zeisz’s phone is then shown using “a number of cells in the Huyton area, some close to Pilch Lane but probably not for the majority of the time”.
At 6.47pm, Mr Kershaw’s phone is connected to a business park in Huyton “possibly at Pilch Lane” then, at 19.19, is seen “moving down towards Sefton Park”.
Zeisz is “using cells around the Huyton area”.
Fitzgibbon is using a cell “close to the motorway at Broad Green”.
At 8.11pm, Peers’ phone is shown to be in the Huyton area.
It is then going “past Prescot” at 8.17pm, “heading up to the St Helens area by about 25 past 8”.
AL: “Does it stay up there that evening?”
JT: “It does.”



 
14:51Jonathan Humphries

Barry phone movements​

Mr Tarpey says a phone attributed to Barry “wasn’t used between 18.12 and 23.03, when it connected with a cell covering Linnet Court”.
Fitzgibbon’s phone had also moved to this area.
JT: “At 19.12, it used a sequence of cells indicating movement towards Linnet Court. It was used in that area for the rest of the day.”
Mr Langhorn says Zeisz was “also using cells in the Linnet Court area about that time”.
Mr Tarpey is unable to confirm this, and Mr Langhorn says that “it may be we need to check that”.

The evidence turns to August 22.
Peers is shown to be in the area of the Mercure Hotel in St Helens in the morning.
His phone continues to connect to cells covering this area into the morning of August 23.
Fitzgibbon’s phone is shown moving south towards Birmingham, arriving shortly before 11.30am.
At 6.25pm on August 24, Barry’s phone was showing in the “Everton or Anfield area”, then “moved south towards the Mersey Tunnel entrance”.
The phone is then located in the West Kirby area, “using cells around Hickory’s Smokehouse”.
Mr Langhorn says “we see the reverse, back into Liverpool” following this.
Barry’s devices are then used “in the area between Formby and Ainsdale”, around the Formby Hall Hotel.


The court will now break until 3.10pm.




 
Thanks Alyce.

My scrambled brain can’t keep up with all these movements - I would need some visuals and maps if I was on that jury for sure. Hopefully things will come together if they’re able to put forward what theories/conclusions they drew from all the data.
 
Thanks Alyce.

My scrambled brain can’t keep up with all these movements - I would need some visuals and maps if I was on that jury for sure. Hopefully things will come together if they’re able to put forward what theories/conclusions they drew from all the data.
Yes, it's really difficult when you don't know the area to follow that level of detail and what it means
 

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