FOUR people have denied assisting the gunman who murdered Elle Edwards on Christmas Eve in 2022, before being caught in Tesco in Newtown.
Connor Chapman, 23, was found guilty last July of murdering the 26-year-old beautician when he fired a Skorpion submachine gun outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey, shortly before midnight on December 24 2022.
David Chambers 42, Danielle Dowdall, 34, Paul Owen, 54, and Roxanne Matthews, 33, entered not guilty pleas when they appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday charged with assisting an offender.
Matthews, of Noctorum, Wirral, who also uses the surname Rooney, will stand trial charged with two counts of assisting an offender by allegedly hiring a Volkswagen T-Cross and booking a lodge in Powys to be used by Chapman. Officers eventually caught up with him as he went through the check outs of Newtown Tesco.
READ MORE: CCTV released of Elle Edwards killer Connor Chapman's Powys Tesco arrest
Chambers, of no fixed address, is charged with assisting Chapman by allegedly arranging for the hire of the Volkswagen T-Cross car.
Dowdall, of Woodchurch, is alleged to have disposed of clothes worn by Chapman, and Owen, also of Woodchurch, is accused of assisting in disposing of a Mercedes A-Class car used by Chapman in the shooting.
Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC set a trial date for September 2, with the case estimated to last three to four weeks.
The defendants were given conditional bail ahead of a pre-trial hearing on June 3.
Chapman was jailed for a minimum of 48 years for the shooting, of which Ms Edwards was not the intended target.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article