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

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14:47JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

'If you wanted to send a message, why did you go inside the house?'​

Mr Greaney moves on. He says: “Having dropped off Joseph Peers, you had a look at Snapchat while downing vodka and taking cocaine and ketamine?”
Witham: “That’s what I said yeah.”
PG: “On seeing an image of Lee Harrison you became enraged?”
JW: “Basically.”
PG: “You thought I will send Lee Harrison a message.”
JW: “Yeah, it was a moment of madness. I don't know what I was thinking at the time.”
PG: “As luck would have it, that very afternoon you had been told where you could find a machine gun?”
JW: “Yeah.”
PG: “And you went to get it?”
JW: “Yeah.”
PG: “Let's consider the warning you wanted to send Lee Harrison. how would Lee Harrison have known the warning was from you?”
JW: “I would have told him the day after.”
PG: “You weren't going to leave him a note. Present from James Witham.”
JW: “Definitely not.”
PG: “Because when he came home, he wouldn't immediately know.”
JW: “I couldn't tell you that.”
PG: “You were going to ring him up and say what?”
JW: “It was a moment of madness.”
PG: “If you wanted to send a message, why did you need to go into the house?”
JW: “I thought no one was in the house.”
PG: “Why not shoot the car or outside of the house?”
JW: “It was a moment of madness, I can't really think.”
PG: “The reason you went inside was to kill.”
JW: “Definitely not, I didn't.”
PG: “Pulling a trigger on an empty gun wasn't going to be much of a warning. Was it good fortune the gun was loaded?”
JW: “Yeah, that’s true.”
PG: “You said to Mr Peers. He asked you whether you had loaded the gun. You said no. Do you see the bullet casing there? [A picture is displayed in court] Your DNA was found on it. You’ll know what I'm going to ask you. How did your DNA come to be on one of the bullets?”
JW: “I can’t answer that question. I don’t know.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
Heavy stuff now. The prosecutor really drives home how terrifying the whole thing must have been for Ashley and what an utter load of xxxx Witham has been coming out with. What a way to end the cross-examination. Must be awful for her family.
 
Legal said:
I think Witham is losing it and the prosecutor knows it. He's nowhere near clever enough for this. I feel he's definitely going to drop himself and the others in it during this cross-examination.

Plus, he didn't like it when it was suggested he worked for Niall. He was very sensitive about the age thing. I reckon the prosecutor could use that to rile him.

JMO
Click to expand...

Agree.

There was clearly a pecking order here, and Whitham, notwithstanding the fact that he's 41, wasn't at the top. He does not want to be "belittled." And yet everyone seems to have belittled him.

I know that Lee Harrison has resisted pressure to speak about these events in court or anywhere. But he seems to be far more involved -- in lead-up events at least -- than we'd heard before. Surprised that his testimony wasn't compelled, albeit with some form of immunity.
 
Last edited:
Legal said:
Heavy stuff now. The prosecutor really drives home how terrifying the whole thing must have been for Ashley and what an utter load of xxxx Witham has been coming out with. What a way to end the cross-examination. Must be awful for her family.
Click to expand...
Utterly terrifying.
 
Plz delete if already posted:

14:59KEY EVENT

"She screamed so loud the neighbours could hear"​

Mr Greaney says: “Let’s return to your retrieval of the gun, which, fortunately, you had been told about earlier that day. There was more good fortune. You had a shovel in your car.”
Witham replies: “It wasn’t a shovel, i got me words mixed up yesterday.”
PG: “It would have been an odd thing to carry out in your car.”
JW: “It’s what I carry my fishing stuff around in. It was like a jug, what I put my stuff in for fishing. I wasn’t thinking straight. I’ve never told no one this. It's the first time I've said it to people. It killed me inside.”
PG: “With the jug, you then dug up the gun. Was it in a bag?”
JW: “It was in a bag yeah.”
PG: “What became of the bag?”
JW; “What do you mean by that?”
PG: “You don’t have it in your pocket now, where is it?”
JW; “I would have put it back in the car and got rid of it as well.”
PG: “In all events, you dug it up. We’re going to look in the area of Stadt Moers Park under the archway in Dales Row.”
The jury are shown a picture of this area, showing an archway with a concrete/tarmaced path underneath.
PG: “That is the Dales Row archway?”
JW: “That’s correct yeah.”
PG: “Under the archway, you’d need a road drill to unearth anything that was there.”
JW: “You can’t see it. You go through there. You go left. It’s a big open space. You walk down where the railings are. I’ve left bits there for him once. That’s how I knew exactly what he meant.”
PG: “You couldn’t have dug it up with a jug or a shovel under the archway.”
JW; “I never said it was under the archway. You do a left and there’s a big massive space there. You can’t see it”.
PG: “You wouldn't have been able to dig up anything with a jug because its tarmacked.”
JW: “Impossible yeah.”
PG: “What you've done now is saying something different to try to give some resemblance of credibility to a lying account.”
JW: “Not really no. the pros case is a load of bollocks. You've got people in here with nothing to do with it.”
Justice Goose tells Witham to “answer the question”
PG: “Where did that gun really come from?”
JW: “I told you.”
PG: “We know that Niall Barry, the man you had left hours before, was able to source automatic weapons including a Skorpion sub-machine gun.”
JW: “That was in 2017, 2018 when he was young and stupid.”
PG: “The truth is once you picked up that gun from wherever you did, Peers drove you back to 40 Leinster Road.”
JW: “I drove myself there.”
PG: “When you arrived it was perfectly obvious to you someone was in.”
JW: “No i thought no one was in, I wouldn't have went there.”
Mr Greaney shows a still from Ring doorbell footage opposite the house.
PG: “Can you see light through that doorway and in an upstairs doorway. It would have been obvious someone was in?”
JW: “It was pissing down with rain, it looked like it was in darkness.”
PG: “Once you’d smashed your way in it must have been obvious to you the television was on in the living room.”
JW: “I never noticed that, the door was shut. I went upstairs then I come downstairs. I was only there for 10 or 15 seconds.”
PG: “It was perfectly light downstairs.”
JW: “Not that I seen no.”
PG: “Mr Witham, Have I understood your case is you went upstairs first.”
JW: “That's true yeah.”
PG: “Can you offer any explanation for why if you had smashed in that door then gone upstairs, why Ashley didn’t escape either through the smashed open front door or through the back. If you’d been at home, and someone had smashed their way in and run upstairs so you thought you needed to escape, you’d have escaped.”
JW: “True yeah.”
PG: “Can you offer any explanation why Ashley didn't take the opportunity to escape?”
JW: “I can’t answer that question.”
PG: “Do you agree that your account requires these things to be true. You didn't see Ashley as she sought to escape through the back.”
JW: “I seen no one, never heard no one. It was pitch black.”
PG: “It requires it to be true you didnt hear as she screamed so loud the neighbours could hear, she screamed get the *advertiser censored** out.”
JW: “I never heard none of that no.”
PG: “Do you remember, the police officers who first attended the scene. Each one explained they would have been able to see someone in front of them.”
JW: “That’s what they said yeah.”
PG: “We have footage from the bodyworn camera of an officer. That was your view as Ashley ran for her life through the dining room into the kitchen.”
JW; “That’s untrue no.”
PG: “You pursued Ashley, James Witham, aiming and firing at her just as Andre De Villiers Horne explained.”
JW: “That’s totally false no chance.”
PG: “You deliberately shot her, hitting her as she faced you.”
JW; “No I never.”
PG: “In those moments as she screamed and fled, the person confronting her was you wearing a balaclava with a machine gun.”
JW: “I never seen no one in the house. I would have burnt the car. I did not know until the day after she’d been shot dead.”
PG: “We can see what the lighting was.”
JW: “It’s like 20 minutes after they’re saying it happened. It was darkness when I was there.”
PG: “The officers explained when they got their in lighting conditions identical to those when you were there they could see people. You saw Ashley.”
JW: “I definitely never no.”
PG: “You heard her scream ‘get the *advertiser censored** out’ and shot her. A young woman. A man with a balaclava and a machine gun. You shot her dead. To send a message to Lee Harrison, you went upstairs and discharged the weapon again.”
PG: “It doesn’t make sense. It’s wrong what you’re saying.”

15:01Jonathan Humphries

'You shot Ashley quite deliberately'​

The footage of Witham and Peers returning to Pilch Lane at 1.25am on August 21 is shown to the court.
PG: “This is you and Joseph Peers returning to the flat isn’t it. Arriving back together, just as you’d left together.”
JW: “No, no.”
PG: “It looks as if you have not a care in the world.”
JW: “I didn’t know what had happened at that time. I wouldn't have went back the flat if I knew that happened.”
PG: “The truth, Mr Witham, is that you went to 40 Leinster Road on the instructions of others within that flat to kill Lee Harrison and anyone who got in your way, and you shot Ashley quite deliberately.”
JW: “No one could send me to do something like that.”
Mr Greaney has no further questions.

 
JW testimony over

15:03Jonathan Humphries

Half a second' for the gun to fire​

Mr Pratt will now reexamine Witham.
He asks for the image in Stadt Moers Park to be shown to the jury.
RP: “Can you just assist? When you went to collect the gun, did you go through that gate?”
JW: “I walked through. There’s a load of houses behind it. I parked the car there. I walk the dog there every day.”
RP: “Did you walk through there? Did you walk under the archway?”
JW: “I walked under the archway and done a left.”
RP: “How far beyond the archway did you turn left?”
JW: “At the very end of the archway.”
RP: “What sort of terrain, what’s the ground like beyond that?”
JW: “It’s all muddy. There’s a load of trees. There’s a big open space. There’s a railway at the end.”
Mr Pratt returns to the night of the shooting.
RP: “You had pursued Ashley Dale through the house and took aim and fired at her. There were nine shots. How long did it take for those shots to be discharged.”
JW: “Half a second basically.”
Mr Pratt has no further questions.

15:09Jonathan Humphries

Evidence concluded on behalf of James Witham​

Mr Pratt rises: “That concludes the evidence on behalf of James Witham.”
Mr Justice Goose says: “That concludes, just about, all of the evidence we will hear in the case. There are one or two details that need to be resolved overnight. We have something to resolve now on behalf of Joseph Peers.”


 
I don't understand this right at the end. Is Witham's own barrister admitting he deliberately chased Ashley through the house and shot her, undermining his claim that he didn't know she was there?

Mr Pratt returns to the night of the shooting.
RP: “You had pursued Ashley Dale through the house and took aim and fired at her. There were nine shots. How long did it take for those shots to be discharged.”
JW: “Half a second basically.”
Mr Pratt has no further questions.
 
Well, whatever doubts I've had about the prosecution so far, they have quashed a large number of them today!

Masterful questioning by Paul Greaney, absolutely obliterated the defendant on the stand, and pretty swiftly as well I might add! When the cross began about an hour before lunch I was expecting for him to still be up there by the end of the day. But no! The jury even got to go home early!

I've found this video of Paul Greaney KC speaking by the way:

 
Legal said:
I don't understand this right at the end. Is Witham's own barrister admitting he deliberately chased Ashley through the house and shot her, undermining his claim that he didn't know she was there?

Mr Pratt returns to the night of the shooting.
RP: “You had pursued Ashley Dale through the house and took aim and fired at her. There were nine shots. How long did it take for those shots to be discharged.”
JW: “Half a second basically.”
Mr Pratt has no further questions.
Click to expand...


Perhaps trying to highlight the speed of the shots when on auto.

I expect his closing might include the info that JW was not proficient with guns ?
 
I think it's been said before but it's a good thing Ashley left such detailed voice notes for her friends, so investigators knew (from her perspective) the ins and outs of everything that had gone on that summer - including photos of the key players.

Shame her boyfriend of 5 years decided not to assist, as I'm sure he could have provided a lot of useful information. I hope that Lee Harrison and Dusty get their comeuppance somehow. JMO
 
14:12DANIEL WINDHAM

Jury called​

Justice Goose enters and calls for the jury.
He says: “I’m sorry you’ve been kept waiting. It’s a necessary part of the process that we have discussions about the law before speeches. We have some final agreed facts.”
Prosecution junior Mr Langhorn rises to deliver these.

14:18KEY EVENT

Evidence has concluded​

AL: “The funeral of Elliott Mulligan took place on May 30 2022 at Anfield Crematorium.”
He refers to a picture taken on that date, showing Jordan Thompson, Ian Fitzgibbon, Lee Harrison and Sean Zeisz.
Mr Langhorn says that Sophie O’Connor was spoken to by the police on October 19 2022.
She reported that, in relation to events at Glastonbury, “Lee stood by Sean Zeisz and stayed with him, as he thought it was out of order.”
Ms O’Connor described Zeisz as a “coward” and said he was “scared of everyone”.
Zeisz was said to have “removed all Liv’s clothing out of the flat when he had heard about Dusty”, but he “did not confront Dusty”.
Justice Goose says: “That now concludes the evidence you will hear in the case. There will be no more.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
14:25DANIEL WINDHAM

Legal directions given to the jury​

Justice Goose will begin giving his legal directions to the jury.
He tells them to “approach the evidence dispassionately and calmly”.
JG: “Put all emotions aside and decide the verdicts on the evidence alone as you promised to do at the start. The prosecution must prove guilt on each count. Only if you’re sure can you convict a defendant. If you are not sure, you will find them not guilty.”
The reads the charges to the jury.
The judge says: “The prosecution case is that JP, SZ, NB,IF and JW each participated in the murder of the deceased. They deny they are guilty of murder. JW has admitted he killed the deceased, he denies he is guilty of murder. You should consider the case of JW first. Only if you find him guilty of murder do you go on to consider the case of murder against JP, SZ, NB and IF.”
Justice Goose says, if this is the case, the jury should go on to consider an alternative charge of manslaughter against Peers, Zeisz, Barry and Fitzgibbon.
“The pros say JW carried out the shooting which killed the deceased. JP aided and assisted by driving the car to and away from the scene and helped to slash the deceased’s car. SZ and NB and IF encouraged JW to carry out the shooting. JW says while he admits he shot the deceased, he did not intend to harm her. He says he fired the gun without knowing the deceased was in the house, her death was an accident. JP says he did not go to Leinster Road and played no part in what happened there. SZ, NB and IF said they remained at 267 Pilch Lane and did not participate in what happened.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
14:33DANIEL WINDHAM

"You must consider what they did and intended to happen"​

Justice Goose continues: “You must consider what they did and intended to happen. If you are sure the defendants intended a submachine gun be used to fire 15 bullets in the house without making sure no one was there, what did they intend? If you are sure the defendant intended to kill, it does not matter that it was the deceased that was killed rather than LH.”
Of manslaughter, the judge says: “A lesser offence of manslaughter may arise in this case. Only if you find the defendant not guilty of murder do you go on to consider the lesser alternative. JW has admitted he is guilty of manslaughter. You do not need to consider manslaughter in his case. To be guilty of manslaughter, the prosecution must prove the defendant participated in carrying out an unlawful and dangerous act whether by aiding or assisting or by encouraging another.”
Of the conspiracy charge, Justice Goose says: “A conspiracy is an agreement to commit an intended crime. It does not require any formality, only that the parties agree and intend to carry out the crime. Such a conspiracy is itself a crime. The offence is complete once the agreement is made. A defendant may join and leave the conspiracy at different times to others. They may play different parts in the conspiracy. The prosecution must make you sure that there was an agreement between two or more of the defendants that at least one would carry out the shooting and he intended that the killing of LH be carried out.”
The judge addresses the firearms charge.
JG: “The prosecution must make you sure there was an agreement that James Witham would possess both the Skorpion submachine gun and its ammunition with the intention of endangering life, the defendant was a party to that agreement and that he intended that the weapon and ammunition be used to endanger life.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
14:37DANIEL WINDHAM

Charge against Radford​

Of the assisting an offender charge against Radford, Justice Goose says: “The prosecution say Kallum Radford either knew or believed either Joseph Peers or Sean Zeisz had committed the offence. In effect, he agreed to hide the car to assist JP or SZ to avoid arrest. KR’s case is he neither knew or believed either was involved in the shooting. He denies any intention to impede arrest. The prosecution must make you sure JP or SZ are guilty of any of the offences charged, that KR either knew or believed JP or SZ had committed that offence or some other relevant offence and KR arranged for the car to be parked on the driveway of two houses in St Helens and intended to avoid their arrests by the police. KR cannot be guilty unless you find JP or SZ guilty of at least one of the offences. If JP and SZ are found not guilty, you will find KR not guilty. It must be proved KR either knew or believed JP or SZ had committed the offence or one related to it. His case is that he helped his friend and knew nothing of the offences.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
14:49KEY EVENT

"The killing of Ashley Dale was a tragedy"​

Paul Greaney KC pros closing speech
“Members of the jury. On any view, any view at all, the killing of Ashley Dale was a tragedy. It’s a tragedy for her family, from whom Ashley has been taken. It’s also a tragedy for our community. That a man disguised in a balaclava and armed with a machine gun forced his way into the home of an innocent woman, ending a life of promise, will no doubt have shocked you all.
“That this happened against a feud relating to the supply of heroin, crack and other drugs may have sickened you. Those emotions do not answer the question of who bares responsibility. The answer calls for a dispassionate assessment of the evidence. Please place your emotions to one side and apply logic. When you do that, we predict you will be sure each man in that dock is guilty of the offences, or in the case of Kallum Radford the offence, with which he is charged.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
14:59DANIEL WINDHAM

"Starkly contrasting versions of events”​

Mr Greaney says that cases put are “starkly contrasting versions of events”.
He says the prosecution case is that the feud between Barry and Harrison was “reignited at Glastonbury” and “turbocharged” by death of Rikki Warnick, with the “malevolent presence” of Jordan Thompson in the background.
This, he says, led to an “attack intended to kill Lee Harrison and leave no one in the way”.
PG: “We submit on a careful, mature and dispassionate analysis having seen each give evidence, you will reject the position of each defendant as a desperate and obviously untrue attempt to avoid responsibility. Having watched the striking events of the last couple of days, we suggest if any confirmation of the prosecution was needed it was provided by the remarkable performance of James Whitham in the witness box. He knew that his own position in this trial was hopeless on the evidence. He sought to do the bidding of those who control him. Amidst his self pity and in his repeated attempts to state innocent men were in the dock, he did nothing but show the dynamic among the defendants is exactly what the prosecution claim it is and further the case that each is guilty of the offences.
“Why had 40 Leinster Drive been attacked and why had Ashley been shot and killed? The reasons will be obvious. James Whitham did not arm himself with a machine gun, travel to 40 Leinster Road, smash in the door and sicharge the weapon for no reason. Something made him do all that. James Whitham had a motive. Identifying that motive is important, it will reveal whether what happened is personal to James Whitham or whether the other defendants were also involved. Identifying the motive will unlock the truth of this case.
“You have been presented with two competing explanations for the events. First of all there is the motive the prosecution has presented. In short, Lee Harrison and Niall Barry had a major beef, a major dispute, dating back three years or so. That dispute was reignited by the events at Glastonbury which unleashed Niall Barry. The death of Rikki Warnick and events related to that, including Dusty’s discharge of a firearm near the home of Rikki’s mother increased the temperature further, leading to the attack. There was a deep dispute between those two men going back many years. For a period, a truce had broken out. Then came Glastonbury, and the truce ended. From that point on, Rikki Warnick died, adding fuel to this fire. There was an explosion on the night of the 20th and 21st. That is what we suggest is behind the killing.
“Then there is the motive most of the defendants have invited you to prefer. James Whitham it is suggested had his own dispute with Lee Harrison relating to drug dealing in North Wales. As a result he formed an intention to attack 40 Leinster Road that was entirely personal to him. Although it’s suggested he spent the evening with his coaccused he breathed not a word to them and they provided him with no support. It was all down to him and nothing to do with them.
“Which of those explanations is correct? We suggest a series of factors, demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that the of the pros is correct and the of the defence is nonsense and lies.”

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
15:30JONATHAN HUMPHRIES

'James Witham made it up on the hoof and did not do a good job'​

“First the reason James Witham claims is nonsense of the highest order. No sensible person could accept what James Witham says about the motive. James Witham said to you that Lee Harrison had been making his life a misery for five years. He said that repeatedly.”
Mr Greaney shows a picture of Witham, Harrison and Ashley Dale at Glastonbury 2019 to the jury.
“It is on any view within that period James Witham claims Lee Harrison was doing horrible things to him. We asked James Witham, is that you with the man who had made your life a misery for years? Yes, he said. You will make your own judgement about that. We suggest that grinning man with his hat in the background is not a man behind another man who had been making his life a misery, robbing him for years.
“Mr Witham told you he had been invited into the home of Lee Harrison and Ashley Dale on a number of occasions, including a year before the killing. When we pointed out that didn’t fit very well with his claim that Lee Harrison had been torturing him for years, he said for the first time ever that he had been invited for some kind of peace meeting. James Witham was, we suggest, making it up on the hoof and not making a good job of it either. Furthermore, James Witham isn’t mentioned once, not mentioned a single time, in the material from Ashley's iPhone. You’ve read messages Ashley exchanged about the dispute that developed. You’ve heard her own views in those voice notes. Not once does she mention the name of James Witham let alone suggest he was in a violent dispute with Lee Harrison. if what happened was all to do with a dispute between James Witham and Lee Harrison, why did Ashley not say a word about that defendant in all of those messages? Why did she not mention his name a single time, let alone say James Witham was the source of the threat. The answer to that question is obvious. The explanation for the attack was not a dispute personal only to James Witham and Lee Harrison. what James Witham says is nonsense of the highest order and inconsistent with the objective evidence."

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

Ashley Dale murder trial as it happens

The 28-year-old was shot dead at her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
 
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