Ashley Dale: Feud over £40k cocaine theft led to shooting, court hears

A feud which led to Ashley Dale's shooting in Liverpool began with the theft of £40,000 of cocaine, a court has heard.

Miss Dale, 28, was shot in her home in the Old Swan area of the city in August last year.

Liverpool Crown Court has heard that she was not the intended target of a gunman who was looking for her partner.

The jury was told of a feud between her partner Lee Harrison and the five men accused of her murder.

The court heard the alleged feud was reignited at Glastonbury music festival two months before Miss Dale was shot.

Defendant Sean Zeisz, 28, accepted that his co-defendant Niall Barry, 26, had a problem with Mr Harrison, the court heard.

He said: "Niall got robbed by all the lads who hang round by Lee's and Lee's just stayed with them and Niall stopped speaking to them all when he got robbed."

Mr Zeisz said Mr Barry had been robbed of a kilo-and-a-half of cocaine, worth about £40,000.

Being cross-examined by prosecutor Paul Greaney KC, Mr Zeisz said the robbery had been carried out by a group called the Hillsiders, with whom the court has heard Mr Harrison was associated.

The jury was told Mr Zeisz had been assaulted in June last year at the Glastonbury event, which was also attended by Miss Dale and Mr Harrison.

Asked if he was embarrassed that he had been hit while at the festival, in front of his then girlfriend Olivia McDowell, Mr Zeisz said: "A little bit yeah, more worried about more trouble breaking out though."

Mr Greaney said: "From those small origins in Glastonbury a really deep feud reignited?"

Mr Zeisz denied this and that he had been hit by a man called Jordan Thompson, a friend of Mr Harrison's.

Mr Thompson, who began seeing Ms McDowell after her relationship with Mr Zeisz ended, had been blamed for the suicide of his close friend Rikki Warnick in July 2022, the jury was told.

The court has heard Mr Thompson was reported to have discharged a firearm outside Mr Warnick's mother's house when he believed Mr Zeisz was inside.

Asked if he was aware of the incident, Mr Zeisz said: "I did hear rumours and gossip.

"I phoned Rikki's mum and asked her and she said 'no, no-one's been here and nothing like that's happened'."

He told the court how in the summer of last year he was a drug dealer trading in cocaine and cannabis.

He said he supplied drugs to Mr Barry but denied knowing that he and another co-defendant, James Witham, 41, were supplying drugs in North Wales.

Mr Zeisz, Mr Barry, Mr Witham, Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, and Joseph Peers, 29, deny the murder of Miss Dale, conspiracy to murder Mr Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, and ammunition.

Mr Witham has admitted manslaughter. Kallum Radford, 26, denies assisting an offender.

The trial continues.

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