THIS is the moment one of Ashley Dale’s alleged killers was found with a knife at Glastonbury before she was shot dead in cold blood, a court has heard.
The council worker, 28, was blasted “deliberately and mercilessly” with a Skorpion sub-machine gun in August last year in a revenge attack aimed at her boyfriend Lee Harrison, it is said.
Merseyside PoliceFootage shown to jurors shows Niall Barry being arrested[/caption]
Merseyside PolicePolice found a flick knife in a holdall containing his passport, it is said[/caption]
PAHe is one of five men accused of murdering Ashley[/caption]
Jurors heard Ashley’s brutal killing came after “trouble broke out” at Glastonbury in June 2022.
Four of her alleged murderers James Witham, 41, Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, Niall Barry, 26 and Sean Zeisz, 28, had attended the festival along with Ashley and Lee.
Witham admits kicking Ashley’s door in and shooting her dead but he denies murdering her.
Liverpool Crown Court has now been shown footage of the moment he and Barry were arrested as they made their way from the Pig and Wheel pub they were staying in to the festival.
Police searched a holdall in the back of the taxi and discovered Barry’s passport and a knife, it was said.
Officers can be seen rummaging through the bag wearing latex gloves before PC James Whatley releases a three inch blade on the knife.
He says, “Oh hello Mr Niall” before a colleague adds: “That’ll do, that’ll come in”.
PC Whatley then tells Barry, whose nickname is Branch, “you’ll be arrested on suspicion of possession of that”.
Barry responds: “That’s not my bag, that’s what I was saying to him before, my passport is in his [Witham’s] bag.”
The clip also then shows Witham shouting over that the bag is his and that is also contains ketamine.
PC Whatley tells Witham: “I am going to arrest you then on possession of this [the knife]”.
He reads Witham his rights, who says: “Ah I didn’t know it was even in there.”
Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC said this discovery backs up a message from Ashley, where she claimed Barry had showed Fitzgibbon a knife and said: “Where’s Saz [Lee Harrison]? He’s getting stabbed up”.
The court heard a member of Harrison’s group, Jordan “Dusty” Thompson, attacked Zeisz at Glastonbury.
Zeisz’ girlfriend Olivia [Liv] then stayed with Thompson, Lee and Ashley following the assault, which left Zeisz feeling “deeply humiliated”, it was said.
This “reignited” a feud between the two gangs that left Ashley fearing the worst.
Just weeks before her death, she told a pal: “I am looking over my shoulder all the time.”
Footage also showed her at a wake for a friend Rikki Warnick, who took his own life, on August 10.
His death had allegedly become a “pressure point” for the groups, with Ashley telling Harrison: “Just got in here now all rats just sat together in the smoking bit.
“I don’t think you should come I’d rather not be here if you’re going to a pub I’ll come and meet u not staying here. Feel dead bad that you’re not here and I am.”
Barry, who had “heavy beef” with Ashley’s boyfriend, had used the attack at Glastonbury and Rikki’s suicide to direct threats towards Harrison, it was said.
He, Zeisz and Fitzgibbon then allegedly dispatched Peers and Witham to Lee’s home armed with the powerful gun to “kill [him] and deal with anyone that got in their way”.
On the night of August 21 last year, Harrison had gone out with pals leaving Ashley alone in the house with their dog.
Her alleged killers made an attempt to lure her outside by slashing the tyres of her Volkswagen T-ROC to trigger an alarm, it was said.
But Ashley sent a text at this time saying she believed the rain had set it off so she stayed inside where she was safe, or “so she no doubt thought”.
Around 50 minutes later, Witham kicked the front door in causing Ashley to flee towards the back door of the house, jurors heard.
She screamed “get the f**k out” at the gunman as she attempted to “run for her life” before he opened fire.
A bullet then passed through her abdomen causing “catastrophic” damage.
Witham fired five bullets into the wall in Ashley’s bedroom, which was a “firm message” to her boyfriend Lee Harrison, jurors heard.
Tragically, the court heard Ashley was found lying on the ground in her back garden “groaning in pain”.
When police arrived, her alleged killers had fled and stricken Ashley could not be saved.
Witham, who has admitted manslaughter, says he “never saw or heard Ashley” and claims he shot her by accident, jurors heard.
He , along with the four other defendants, deny murdering Ashley.
They have also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, and ammunition.
A sixth defendant, Kallum Radford, 25, of no fixed address, denies assisting an offender.
The trial continues.
Merseyside PoliceAshley can be seen at the wake for Rikki[/caption]
FacebookShe had expressed her fears in the weeks leading up to her death[/caption]
PAAshley was killed when a bullet passed through her stomach[/caption]
PAFive men have denied her murder[/caption]
The horror unfolded while Ashley was home alone
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