Her life was just beginning, says father of Christmas Eve reveller shot in pub

Elle Edwards died after a gunman opened fire on the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey, Merseyside, shortly before midnight on December 24

Elle Edwards (PA Media/Merseyside Police) (PA Media)

A grieving father whose daughter was shot dead in a Merseyside pub while celebrating on Christmas Eve said her life was only just beginning.

Tim Edwards said he hopes a foundation in the name of his daughter, Elle Edwards, 26, will combat gun violence in the region.

Ms Edwards was shot while out celebrating Christmas with friends, when a gunman opened fire on the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village on the Wirral, shortly before midnight on December 24.

She was not believed to have been the intended target of the shooting.

In his first interview since her death, Mr Edwards told Sky News that Elle, a beautician and dental nurse, “had a heart of gold”.

He said: “She was beautiful looking and she was a great hugger. She was just a fantastic human being with a heart of gold.”

He said the “hardest part” was that his daughter’s life had been cut short aged just 26. “She was just getting going,” he told Sky News.

“She had her focus, she had her own ambitions and she was achieving them, and everything was set in place for her and it was just taken away, and that’s sad.”

He added: “There are no winners with gun crime.

“If you pick up a gun, your future is over and everybody else’s future around you is over. It’s dead simple. It’s absolutely pointless and it solves nothing.

“I want to see a positive that comes out of this. Elle’s name will be used for good in the future. She can’t be forgotten.”

Ms Edwards’s funeral will take place on January 25.

Connor Chapman, 22, will go on trial for the murder of Elle Edwards on June 7.