20 November 2023 , 15:38
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Ashley Dale’s murderers were brought to justice with the help of hundreds of voice recordings on her phone, the senior investigating officer in the case says.
The 28-year-old’s phone was found an arm’s length away from where police officers discovered her, fatally injured, in the back garden of her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, on August 21 last year after gunman James Witham forced his way in and shot her with a Skorpion machine gun.
Messages and voice notes sent between Miss Dale and her friends dating back from the day of her death to June, when she attended Glastonbury festival, were analysed by police for evidence of a feud between her boyfriend, Lee Harrison, and the four men convicted of her murder.
Ashley Dale was found with fatal gunshot wounds (PA)The jury in the Liverpool Crown Court trial heard Miss Dale’s own voice describing events in the weeks leading up to the shooting as many of the recordings were played in court. Detective Chief Inspector Cath Cummings said: “For me, as a senior investigating officer, this was the most compelling and emotional part of the case. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the evidence of the murder victim play such a crucial role in a court case. Ashley was narrating her own story and events that led to her death.
She added: "There was barely a dry eye in the courtroom as her increased fear and anxiety was played out through recovered voice notes from her phone. It’s Ashley that’s actually brought these offenders to justice because overlaying that with the evidence that we’ve been able to gather she’s told us the story herself.”
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The council worker's death has resulted in four murder charges (PA)Miss Dale’s stepfather Rob Jones said her phone had been a “massive part” of the conviction of her murderers. He said: “If it was left up to the accused and the person who ultimately there was the conspiracy to murder, Lee, this would never have got to trial because they all lie, they all cheat, they all steal, they know no different.”
In the voice notes and text messages, Miss Dale told of an argument between Niall Barry, 26, and Mr Harrison that went back years and stemmed from the theft of drugs. She also explained to friends how the feud had been reignited after a fight at Glastonbury involving Barry’s friend and co-defendant Sean Zeisz, 28. In messages, she told friends she had a “bad, bad feeling about everything”. Speaking on August 1, almost three weeks before her murder, she said: “My nerves are gone, when am out in the car with Lee just feeling like I’m looking over me shoulder all the time.”
Police tape surrounded the Liverpool home as officers probed the tragedy (Liverpool Echo)Senior crown prosecutor Olivia Cristinacce-Travis said the recordings were “harrowing” to listen to. She said: “We all do text messages and WhatsApp, but it was the amount of voice notes that she used, which I suppose shows the realities of being in 2023 and the victim being a young woman. It was all of those voice notes that essentially documented how she was feeling on each day and what was going on in her life that were so different.” She said the recovery of the phone meant a “very modern prosecution” and added: “It is it is quite unprecedented to have a narrator, essentially, telling her own story.”
Ten bullets were fired into her dining room, one hitting Ms Dale in the abdomen as she stood by the back door, and five bullets into the wall of an upstairs bedroom. Witham, 41, Barry, 26, Zeisz, 28, and Joseph Peers, 29, all denied her murder, with Witham admitting manslaughter.
Today, four of six men on trial were found guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court after they took nine hours and 22 minutes deliberating. Witham, Peers, Barry and Zeisz were also convicted of conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, and ammunition.
Ian Fitzgibbon, who had also been on trial, was cleared of all charges after denying murder, manslaughter, conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to possess firearms. He punched the air and patted his chest with his fist as he heard the verdict read out. A sixth man, Kallum Radford, was found not guilty of assisting an offender.