The man accused of the murder of Ashley Dale may have been motivated by a long running feud with the "HIllsiders" group, a jury has heard.
Niall Barry, 26, also known as ‘Branch’ is among three men accused of "dispatching" a gunman to kill his former friend 'Saz' who was his former friend and boyfriend to Ashley. Gunman, James Witham, kicked through the front door of Ashley's home in Leinster Road, Old Swan, and opened fire with a Skorpion sub-machine gun in the early hours of Sunday, August 21 last year, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Ashley, 28 was home alone at the time and tried to flee but was struck in the abdomen suffering "catasprophic injuries."
The trial of six men in relation to her death began at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday (October 5), when the prosecution opened its case. Lead prosecutor Paul Greaney, KC, told the jury the Crown's case is that Witham and a second man, Joseph Peers, were sent by Barry and the other "organisers" – Sean Zeisz and Ian Fitzgibbon – who were "directing operations" from a flat in Pilch Lane, Huyton.
The motive for the attack, Mr Greaney told the jury, was not "straightforward to explain". However he said an important factor was what happened at at Glastonbury festival in June, an event Barry, Zeisz, Fitzgibbon, Witham, Harrison and Ashley all attended.
Prosecutors said Barry was seen to pull out a knife and say "Where's Saz I'm going to stab him up". Later Zeisz, aka 'Zest', was allegedly attacked by Harrison's friend Jordan Thompson, aka 'Dusty'. Mr Greaney said Zeisz was "deeply humiliated", particularly because after he left his girlfriend, Olivia McDowell, remained in the company of Thompson, Harrison and Ashley.
But Mr Greaney said that incident, which allegedly left Zeisz "in a rage" with Thompson, also re-ignited an old feud between Barry and Harrison. The details of those events, Mr Greaney said, was partly taken from text messages and voice notes retrieved from Ashley's phone after her death.
Ashley described how her boyfriend's issues with Barry allegedly went back for years. On July 3 last year, there was an exchange between Ashley and her friend, named as Sophie, which began with Sophie asking: "Branch is out for Lee isn’t he. There’s been murder?"
Ashley replied: “Just still over the murder a few years ago when they fell out. Branch is back on his high horse. Dunno where he’s popped back up from. He was in glasto. Pulled a big knife out to Ian Fitz and said where’s Saz he’s getting stabbed up."
In another message, she adds: "Then he just disappeared for years and now someone’s obv rattled his cage. It’s scary cos he’s on some pure rampage."
The jury heard things became more heated following the suicide of a mutual friend called Rikki Warnick, on July 21. Tensions began to build ahead of Rikki's funeral and a balloon release, with Ashley describing her anxiety about a potential clash between her boyfriend and Barry if they both attended.
Witham, of Ashbury Road in Huyton; Zeisz, of Longreach Road in Huyton; Barry, of Moscow Drive in Tuebrook; Peers, of Woodlands Road in Roby; and Fitzgibbon, of Heigham Gardens in St Helens, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Ashley Dale, conspiracy to murder Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, namely a Skorpion submachine gun, and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Witham has admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter.
A sixth man – 25-year-old Kallum Radford, of Trentham Road in Kirkby – denies assisting an offender. The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues and is scheduled to last for six to eight weeks.
The trial continues.
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