'Skorpion' machine-pistols in Elle Edwards murder used in nine other gun crimes

16 December 2023 , 20:09

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Elle Edwards (Image: PA)

Skorpion machine pistols like the one used in Elle Edwards’ murder have been involved in nine crimes since her death on December 24 last year.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council, responding to a Freedom of Information request, did not reveal locations or dates of the nine crimes or if anyone was killed or injured.

Police are yet to recover the Skorpions used to murder Elle, 26, Ashley Dale, 28, and Sam Rimmer, 22, in Merseyside last year. Connor Chapman, 23, hit beautician Elle when he fired into a crowd at a pub in Wallasey. He got life with a minimum 48 years in July.

Elle with her dad Tim Edwards

Earlier this month, Elle's dad Tim told us about the trauma he felt when he identified her body. And as Tim faces a second Christmas Day without his beloved Elle, her death is compounded by the grooming of a new generation of gang gun runners.

Tim says: “It’s terrifying to hear kids this young are being groomed, but it’s becoming more and more common. My grandson is four now. In a few years one of his friends could be one of these kids. The children being groomed into gangs now will be the ones using guns in the future.”

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This is a horrific prospect for Tim who is still grief-stricken by his girl’s murder. He and Elle were supposed to be wrapping their Christmas presents together but instead she decided to go to the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village with her sister Lucy, 22.

Connor Chapman, 23, armed with a Skorpion submachine gun, had been lying in wait at the pub for three hours for his intended targets, gang rivals Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy. Elle went outside for a ­cigarette and was sitting on a wall opposite Salkeld and Duffy, who she knew but who were not friends. The killer approached from the car park and sprayed 12 shots into the crowd.

Tim says: “I had to watch the CCTV of her getting shot before the trial. I’ll never unsee it. Elle was sat on the wall having a fag with her back to that piece of s***. The targets he was aiming at were standing in front of Elle and he just sprayed at them. Another six inches up or to the side and she’d still be alive.”

Matthew Dresch