The killer of Ashley Dale went to a Premier league football match hours before shooting the council worker dead in her own home, the murder trial was told today.
James Witham, 41, went to watch Everton draw 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on the Saturday afternoon in August last year, Liverpool Crown Court was told.
The trial has heard that at 12.30am the following day, Witham barged into Ashley’s home in the Old Swan area of the city and shot her with a Skorpion sub machine gun.
The jury has been told that Ashley, 28, was home alone with her dog when she was shot her once in the stomach as she desperately ran through the house trying to escape.
The gunman’s intended target was Ashley’s partner Lee Harrison, 25, who had been in a feud with a rival faction in the Huyton area of Liverpool.
41-year-old James Witham (pictured being arrested at Glastonbury festival in June 2022), went to watch Everton draw 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on the afternoon of Saturday, August 20, last year – hours before Ashley Dale was shot dead – Liverpool Crown Court was told
Ashley Dale, 28, was shot dead in her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, on August 21 last year
Forensic officers outside the address where Ms Dale lost her life in Old Swan, Liverpool, on August 21 last year
Witham, of Huyton, admits manslaughter but denies murder and claims that he did not seeing Ashley and claimed she was shot ‘ by accident ‘ when he opened fire.
The jury yesterday was shown CCTV and mobile phone cell site analysis tracking the movements of the five men accused of Ashley’s murder on the day of the shooting.
The prosecution claim that Witham and Joseph Peers, 29, who drove the gunman to and away from the scene, were the ‘ foot soldiers ‘ in the plan to assassinate Lee Harrison.
It claims that shooting was organised by Niall Barry, 26, Sean Zeisz, 28, and Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, after an old feud between Barry and Harrison was reignited at the Glastonbury music festival when Zeisz was assaulted by an associate of Harrison’s.
The jury were shown CCTV compilations of the defendants’ movements in the 24 hours leading up to the shooting by prosecutor Alex Langhorn.
They included footage of Witham being driven to a Tasker’s sports wear shop on the Saturday morning by Ian Fitzgibbon where Witham bought a pair of size eight and a half black On Cloud Flyer trainers for £155.
The jury has been told that the trainers match a footprint left in Ashley’s door when Witham kicked his way into the house to start his attack at 33 minutes past midnight.
Mr Langhorn said that mobile phone cell siting placed Witham and an associate called Michael Kershaw at Goodison Park where they attended the match.
He said that they returned to Huyton after the game and Witham joined Peers, Fitzgibbon and Barry in a flat in Pilch Lane, Huyton which the prosecution claim was ‘the centre of operations’ for the shooting.
The group was later joined at 9.30 by Sean Zeisz before Witham was driven by Peers in a grey high performance Hyundai to Ashley’s home to carry out the planned murder of Lee Harrison.
All five defendants deny the murder of Ashley, conspiring to murder Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon and ammunition.
A sixth man, Kallum Radford, 26, denies assisting an offender by hiding the Hyundai after the shooting.
Niall Barry, who denies organising the murder of Ashley Dale, being detained by police in Somerset on his way to Glastonbury festival on June 25, 2022
Jurors were earlier shown bodycam footage of police arresting Ashley’s suspected killers at Glastonbury in June of that year after finding a flick knife, with which the gangsters allegedly threatened to stab her boyfriend in a feud.
The clip showed the arrest of Witham on June 25 in Pilton, near the site of Glastonbury.
Earlier Paul Greaney, KC, prosecuting, described how Witham and Barry had been travelling to the festival site in a taxi when they were pulled over by Avon and Somerset Police.
Mr Greaney said: ‘It seems that whilst attending Glastonbury, Niall Barry stayed at a pub with rooms not far from where the festival was taking place.
‘The pub was called the Pig and Wheel and he stayed there with five others, including James Witham, the man who shot and killed Ashley.
‘On the morning of Saturday 25th June, Niall Barry and James Witham were in a taxi, travelling from the Pig and Wheel towards the festival.
‘Uniformed officers stopped the vehicle they were in. In the rear of the taxi, along with Niall Barry and James Witham, was a holdall.
‘Officers searched the holdall and, within it, they found a passport in the name of Niall Warner. Warner is the surname of Niall Barry’s father.’
The prosecution began introducing evidence to the jury, including the clip of the arrest from a PC James Whatley.
The footage shows Witham, who is wearing a blue two tone jacket, a blue cap, and carrying a man bag, being searched by officers.
PC Whatley then begins searching a blue holdall found in the back of the taxi. Wearing blue disposable latex gloves, he is seen flicking through a passport in the name of Niall Warner. The jury has heard Warner is the surname of Barry’s dad.
PC Whatley then picks up a black handled flick knife, pressing a button on the side to release the three inch blade. He says: ‘Oh hello, Mr Niall’. A colleague adds: ‘That’ll do, that’ll come in.’
Paul Greaney KC said: ‘When Ashley Dale saw James Witham, she screamed, she shouted ‘get the f*** out’ and she attempted to run for her life’
Ms Dale’s sister (left), her mother Julie Dale (centre) and stepfather Rob Jones (right) arriving at Liverpool Crown Court for the trial of Ian Fitzgibbon, Niall Barry, Sean Zeisz, Joseph Peers and James Witham on October 2
PC Whatley then approaches Barry, who is sat in handcuffs on the back seat of a police car, and tells him ‘you will be arrested on suspicion of possession of that’, before waving the knife in front of him.
Barry responds: ‘That’s not my bag, that’s what I was saying to him before my passport is in his [Witham’s] bag.’
Witham, who is standing near the front of the car in handcuffs speaking to another officer, shouts over that the bag is indeed his. He also tells the officer there is ketamine in the bag.
PC Whatley tells Witham: ‘I am going to arrest you then on possession of this [the knife]’. He reads Witham his rights, who said: ‘Ah I didn’t know it was even in there.’
So far, the jury has heard messages and voice notes sent by Ashley to her friends in which she describes Barry producing a knife at the Glastonbury festival and threatening to stab her boyfriend Harrison, known by his nickname ‘Saz’.
Niall Barry, 26, (pictured) was arrested at a hotel in Formby with a bag of cash and his passport, intending to flee the country, Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, said
During his opening, Mr Greaney told the jury: ‘The prosecution suggest that what this finding by the local police demonstrates is that whilst at the Glastonbury Festival, Niall Barry had access to a knife.
‘In turn, that provides support for the report, made by Ashley in her message to Sophie on 3rd July, that whilst at Glastonbury, Niall Barry had produced a big knife to Ian Fitzgibbon and said, ‘where’s Saz, he’s getting stabbed up’.
According to messages between Ashley and her friends, Barry and Harrison had ‘heavy beef’ going back around three years when Barry was robbed by a group known as the Hillsiders.
Harrison was friends with members of the group, including a Jordan Thompson, aka Dusty, who allegedly attacked Barry’s friend Zeisz, also during Glastonbury festival.
Sean Zeisz, 28, (pictured) is one of the five defendants involved in the murder trial
The prosecution has claimed the attack at Glastonbury festival ‘reignited’ the feud between Barry and Harrison.
Barry is alleged to have threatened Harrison in the weeks before the shooting, and Ashley described her ‘terrible anxiety’ that something ‘bad’ was going to happen between the two men.
The trial continues.
