Elle Edwards' heartbroken father has recalled the experience of watching the CCTV of his daughter's murder, describing it as an experience he will "never unsee".
Tim Edwards, 52, spoke frankly and openly of the trauma he received from identifying his daughter, Elle, who was gunned down outside a Merseyside pub on December 24 last year.
Mr Edwards is now set to face his second Christmas Day without Elle, 26, and believes children in Liverpool are being "groomed into gangs". He aired his concerns when speaking to The Mirror about how his grandson's friends could be armed with guns in the future.
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Connor Chapman, 23, attended the pub Elle and her sister Lucy, 22, were enjoying a drink at, armed with a Skorpion submachine gun. He had been waiting for three hours at the pub for targeted duo Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy.
Elle was sadly shot and killed by the murderer, who approached from the car park before spraying 12 shots into the crowd. Tim said: "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." Mr Edwards has since warned of future gang-related crimes and shootings in Merseyside.
He added: "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."
The horror CCTV footage came just a short while after his son, Connor, 30, informed his father of the tragic news on Christmas morning. Tim rushed to the hospital where he was informed Elle had died after a gunshot wound to the head.
"When we got to Arrowe Park Hospital the surgeon said to me she’d passed away. He said she’d been shot in the head," he said. "They put us in a side room at the hospital and I just went ballistic. I smashed the wall up."
Chapman was convicted of murder at Liverpool Crown Court and jailed for a minimum of 48 years. A GoFundMe has since been set up for charity work relating to Elle Edwards.
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