Elle Edwards: Moment beautician hugs friends on Christmas Eve just before killer guns her down

Video of victim Elle Edwards’s last moments shows 26-year-old enjoying drinks with friends

Video clips of a night of tragedy reveal a gunman firing into a pub where an innocent 26-year-old woman was enjoying a Christmas drink with friends.

The footage shows the final moments of beautician Elle Edwards as she happily hugged and chatted to friends.

Outside, Connor Chapman was caught on CCTV firing at the door of the Merseyside pub, shortly before midnight on December 24 last year.

Ms Edwards greeting friends (Merseyside Police)

Ms Edwards was the victim of a feud between criminals on the Woodchurch estate in Wirral, where Chapman lived, and the nearby Beechwood estate.

Prosecutors at Liverpool Crown Court said he was attempting to kill Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, both of whom were seriously injured in the shooting.

Chapman was convicted of her murder and seven other counts after a three-and-a-half-week trial.

Co-defendant Thomas Waring, 20, was found guilty of the possession of a prohibited firearm and assisting an offender by helping to burn out the stolen Mercedes used in the shooting.

Ms Edwards was seen chatting with friends, while Chapman was caught on camera creeping up to the pub, shooting, then backing off to a getaway car.

Separate footage, taken near Waring’s home in Barnston, shows a man thought to be Chapman dropping a gun as he walks to the house.

Ms Edwards’s father, Tim Edwards, said after the conviction: “We got the result we wanted, justice for Elle. That’s what it’s always been about.

“Those two cowards in there decided to drag it out for four weeks, put all these people through that and everyone else around it, involved in the case.

Tim Edwards said of the killer: ‘I hope he rots in hell’ (PA)

Chapman had planned to target two gang members (PA)

“I can’t thank the police enough for what they did, and we got there in the end, the right result.

“I hope them two never see another Christmas again ever in their lives.”

Despite his attempts to look the defendant in the eye as he sat in the dock, Mr Edwards said Chapman, who the court heard had been in and out of custody for many years, had avoided eye contact with him.

He said: “He’s a scumbag, isn’t he? An absolute scumbag. No remorse, not one ounce, not one sign of regret for what he’s done. If anything, arrogant to actually believe he can pull the wool over people’s eyes and get away with it.”

Elle Edwards was an innocent bystander (PA)

A Skorpion sub-machine gun like that used by Chapman (PA)

Asked whether Chapman had been hiding from him in the dock, Mr Edwards said: “I’ve had my eyes on him for four weeks and he has not looked at me once because he’s a coward; that’s exactly what he is.

“I couldn’t care less about him. I’ll never, ever mention his name.

“I hope he rots in hell.”

Mr Edwards said his family could start moving forward following the conviction of Chapman, who killed his daughter and injured five other people outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral.

The jury heard Chapman lay in wait outside the pub in a stolen Mercedes for almost three hours before firing the weapon, which the court heard was capable of firing 15 rounds a second.