The fatal shooting of Ashley Dale was "driven by the violent hatred and vanity" of suspect Sean Zeisz, a jury has heard.
The Knowsley Council worker died aged 28 after being shot in the abdomen and collapsing in her back yard on Leinster Road in Old Swan shortly after midnight on August 21 last year. Five men, including Zeisz, are currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of her murder.
James Witham had admitted kicking down the door of her house, where she was spending the evening alone with her dachshund Darla, and spraying the property with bullets from a Skorpion submachine gun. The 41-year-old is expected to claim he did not see or hear Ashley and was instead attempting to "send a message" to her boyfriend Lee Harrison, who was not present at the time.
READ MORE: Live updates from Ashley Dale murder trial
Zeisz continued to give evidence from the witness box for a second day yesterday, Tuesday. Jurors have previously heard that the shooting came after he had allegedly been assaulted at Glastonbury Festival by one of Harrison's associates, Jordan Thompson, who had then apparently started a relationship with his girlfriend Olivia McDowell.
He was asked under cross-examination by Paul Greaney KC this afternoon about events on the evening of August 20 2022. Zeisz reported that he had been invited to a flat on Pilch Lane in Huyton – described by the prosecution as the "centre of operations for the plotters on the night" – by another defendant, Joseph Peers, to watch a boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.
CCTV footage showed him arriving in the area in his Mercedes at around 9.15pm and buying food from a chip shop before entering the apartment. Peers and Witham then left the address at 10.09pm, and Mr Greaney asked Zeisz of the former's departure: "That was a complete surprise to you, that he was going home?"
He replied: "It was. Yeah."
Zeisz had previously stated that he had called Peers "as soon as he left to get some cigarettes", and that he had rang him "about two or three times" but received no answer. However, his phone usage showed that he had only contacted him an hour later at 11.09pm.
Mr Greaney said: "You have maintained you telephoned Joseph Peers as soon as he had left the flat, which was at 10.09. Yet, in fact, it appears that it was not for nearly an hour, could you explain?"
Zeisz replied: "I said this before I’d seen the evidence. I was an hour off.
"This is before I seen any evidence, before I was charged, I said that. I thought it was straight away, but obviously it’s just under an hour later."
Mr Greaney also asked why he wanted Peers to buy him cigarettes when the Go Local convenience store two doors down sold such items and was open until 1am. Zeisz said of this: "We already had cigarettes.
"It’s not like we had no ciggies. We asked Joe to come back and on the way past grab a pack.
"Niall said it was shut, it shuts at 11. It’s not like we were desperate.
"We were staying up until 3, so we would have needed more ciggies. If he says it’s shut, I’ll believe him, he’s living there."
Mr Greaney continued: "Can I suggest an alternative, that I suggest is correct? The reason why you were an hour out with your call to Peers, the reason why you didn’t pop to the Go Local, is because that call you made was for a completely different reason."
Zeisz responded: "It wasn’t, it was a couple of minutes before the fight was about to start. 'Are you watching it here or what?'."
Mr Greaney said that another co-accused, Ian Fitzgibbon, was also attempting to contact Peers and Witham at the same time whilst also in the flat. Zeisz said of this: "We were trying to ring them to see if they were coming and watching the boxing.
"The fight was starting in three minutes. I knew they were together, they went out together, didn't they?
"We just wanted them to come back and watch the boxing. I didn’t know he’d been asked to leave and go get his drugs elsewhere.
"Joe got off. I’m sitting there thinking 'why’s he done that?'."
Mr Greaney put to him: "The reality is that you and Ian Fitzgibbon were seeking an update about how the plan to attack 40 Leinster Road was progressing."
Zeisz replied: "No, that’s wrong. I had no reason to, they were my friends."
Mr Greaney then asked what he and Peers had spoken about in the 11.09pm phone call, saying: "What do you say you were talking about, if not the plan to attack 40 Leinster Road?"
Zeisz said: "To come back and watch the boxing, he said 'I’ll be round in a minute, do you want anything?'. I said 'yeah, bring some ciggies'."
Peers did not return to the property at this time however. Mr Greaney stated that Zeisz was attempting to call him again "about 15 minutes" after the shooting.
Zeisz said of this: "I did yeah. To see where he was and why hasn’t he come back round."
Mr Greaney asked: "It wasn’t to check if the killing had been carried out?"
Zeisz responded: "100 per cent, no. I wasn’t aware of anything."
Peers then phoned Zeisz for 19 seconds a further quarter of an hour later. Mr Greaney said: "Is it your explanation that he called you to say if you’re still at the flat, I’ll come back."
Zeisz replied: "That was it. He said 'I'll be round now'."
Mr Greaney continued: "Mr Zeisz, what I suggest to you is that call by Peers to you was to update you about what had happened at 40 Leinster Road."
He said: "100 per cent, no."
Zeisz then called him again at 1.18am "to see where he is". Mr Greaney said: "The reason you wanted to know where he was because you, Ian Fitzgibbon and Niall Barry wanted an update about how the plot to attack had gone didn't you?"
But Zeisz responded: "No chance."
Peers and Witham then returned to the flat at 1.25am, after which the latter is said to have "confessed" to having carried out the shooting. Mr Greaney said of this: "All of what you have said about that is lies, you knew what Witham and Peers were up to and you were in on it."
Zeisz said: "No, I wasn't in on it, they weren’t lies. You weren’t there, so you wouldn’t know."
Mr Greaney concluded his questioning by saying: "Let me put the prosecution case to you, fair and square. Your violent hatred and vanity drove what happened that night.
"You encouraged an attack on Leinster Road, intending that no one be left behind. You fully supported the use of a machine gun to that end."
Zeisz said: "Not a chance, Lee and Ashley were my friends. I never fell out with Lee, never argued with him."
Mr Greaney told a jury of five men and seven women during the prosecution's opening earlier this month that Witham and "driver" Peers, were "dispatched" to assassinate Harrison and "leave no witnesses". They had allegedly received their orders from Niall Barry, Zeisz and Fitzgibbon – who were said to have been "directing operations" from the flat on Pilch Lane.
The court heard that, at around 11.40pm on August 20 2022, two men approached Ashley’s white Volkswagen T-Roc car – which was parked outside the house – and slashed its tyres, causing the alarm to sound, in an effort to "lure" the occupants out. But it is thought Ashley believed the alarm had been set off by heavy rain and did not leave her house.
Mr Greaney said: "The men who had damaged the car were not deterred. Fifty minutes later, at about 12.30am, they returned.
"This time, they were not to be diverted from their intention to kill. One of the men approached the front door of 40 Leinster Road and he kicked it in. Ashley plainly became aware of what was happening. She screamed and fled towards the back door of the house, but the man entered the house and he pursued her.
"He was armed with a machine gun and opened fire. Ashley was struck by a bullet – it passed through her abdomen, causing catastrophic damage."
Mr Greaney said that "certain events at Glastonbury Festival" in June 2022 had "played an important part" in the alleged motive behind the attack, adding: "Ashley Dale and Lee Harrison, her boyfriend, attended the festival, as did at least four of the defendants – Sean Zeisz, Niall Barry, Ian Fitzgibbon and James Witham. A group of other young men from Liverpool were also present, one of whom was a person called Jordan Thompson – who was known as Dusty.
"Lee Harrison seems to have had an association with the group of which Dusty was part. Whilst at the festival, Sean Zeisz was assaulted and his attackers included Jordan Thompson.
"This attack appears to have occurred because Sean Zeisz was, as it was later expressed, arguing with everyone for Niall Barry – who was known as Branch. To compound the loss of face for Sean Zeisz, in the aftermath of the assault his girlfriend – a woman called Olivia, known as Liv, McDowell – stayed with the group of which Jordan Thompson, Lee Harrison and Ashley Dale were part.
"It is clear that Sean Zeisz felt deeply humiliated from what had happened at Glastonbury."
The court also heard that Barry then sided with Zeisz, with this "fresh" dispute having compounded a "separate and longstanding antagonism towards Lee Harrison". Mr Greaney said: "Niall Barry used these new events at Glastonbury to reignite that old feud and, as tensions simmered in Liverpool, Niall Barry made a series of threats directed towards Lee Harrison."
Witham, of Ashbury Road in Huyton, Zeisz, of Longreach Road in Huyton, 26-year-old Barry, of Moscow Drive in Tuebrook, 29-year-old Peers, of Woodlands Road in Roby, and 28-year-old Fitzgibbon, of Heigham Gardens in St Helens, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Ashley Dale, conspiracy to murder Lee 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 defendant – 26-year-old Kallum Radford, of Trentham Road in Kirkby – denies assisting an offender. The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues.
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