Murderer Connor Chapman posted a vile photo regarding the death of police officer David Phillips who was killed in a hit and run.
Chapman, 23, was this week found guilty of the murder of Elle who was killed in a botched gangland shooting on Christmas Eve last year. Elle, 26, had been enjoying a night out with her sister and friends when she was hit twice in the back of the head outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village.
Five men were also injured, one critically, but all survived. A jury of seven women and five men came to a unanimous decision after three hours and 48 minutes of deliberation, following a three-and-a-half week trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Chapman’s friend Thomas Waring, 20, was convicted of possession of a prohibited weapon, and also assisting an offender by helping Chapman torch the stolen black Mercedes car used to flee the scene.
READ MORE: Connor Chapman guilty of Elle Edwards murder outside busy pub
Following the culmination of the trial, the ECHO can now report on Chapman's Facebook page which includes two vile posts. Firstly, the gun thug posted a status, which is still visible to the public, where he condemns the use of guns in a cowardly bid to cover his tracks.
And sickeningly in his photos, Chapman has a picture of the Merseyside Police logo and a candle with a comment that reads "see ya Dave Phillips, rot in hell, from the lads". Dad-of-two PC Phillips, 34, was on the central reservation of Wallasey Dock Link Road, when he was hit by a car thief driving at high speed.
Clayton Ronald Williams had stolen the high-performance L200 Mitsubishi during an earlier burglary. Hero PC Phillips was deploying a stop-stick puncturing device when he was struck and killed instantly in the early hours of October 5 2015. Chapman's Facebook photo was posted just three days later on October 8.
Williams was found guilty of the manslaughter of PC Phillips and sentenced to 20 years in prison after a six-day trial at Manchester Crown Court. It is unknown if Williams and Chapman were associates.
Chapman was jailed for the reckless murder of Elle in what was the "culmination" of a violent, tit-for-tat feud between the Woodchurch group and its Wirral rival, a gang based around the Beechwood/Ford estate on the opposite side of the M53 motorway. Two of the men shot on Christmas Eve, Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, were described as involved in the Beechwood gang and are already serving jail sentences for dishing out a savage beating to Woodchurch-linked Sam Searson, the day before the shooting.
Salkeld was the most severely injured of the survivors after Chapman's bullet penetrated his chest causing internal bleeding and organ damage, while Duffy was wounded in both legs. Three other men injured by the volley of bullets; Harry Loughran, Liam Carr and Nicholas Speed, all described as “innocent bystanders”, made quicker recoveries.
Mr Power later told the jury: "Gun crime often includes criminals shooting at each other. There’s no doubt this is such an event, but of course here, a young, beautiful, unconnected, innocent life was brutally ended as a direct result of the then ongoing, but for now at least paused, gun feud between the Ford Estate and the Woodchurch Estate."
Speaking outside court yesterday afternoon, Elle's dad Tim called Chapman and Waring "cowards". He said: "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. I can't thank the police enough for what they did, and we got there in the end, the right result.
"I hope those two never see another Christmas again ever in their lives. 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. It's a big relief because now we can start again. We've been through hell and we deserve now to be given a life back that we had before, which will never be the same. It's now a new chapter, it's a new beginning for our family. It's the worst day, but the best of the worst days."
Chapman was jailed for life with a minimum of 48 years. Waring was jailed for nine years.
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